Spatial characteristics of the Hungarian national Programme for football field construction

Abstract

The investments realized in the past decade in the framework of the Hungarian National Programme for Football Field Construction have constituted an important part of the activities of local governments aimed at the development of sports facilities. In the spirit of the above, the aim of this paper is, relying on the database of the Hungarian Football Federation, to explore the spatial characteristics of this project, as well as to identify the relationship between the football fields completed and the various characteristics of the settlements (e.g. population size, level of economic development). Research has indicated that the size of settlements can have a significant influence on the football fields completed, and the economic power of the local government has a major impact on their willingness to construct football fields in the first place. Based on an analysis of the tendencies over time, we can clearly observe the increasing role played by settlements of smaller populations, as well as the decreasing significance of the administrative role of the settlement (preference of administrative district centres).