Based on the analysis of the specific environment in which football clubs compete, this paper presents a comparative institutional analysis of three paradigmatic structures of football club governance: privately owned football firms, public football corporations (stock corporations with dispersed ownership) and members’ associations with an own legal personality (Verein). Against the background that “spending power” is the main driver of competitive advantage for clubs in the overinvestment environment of European football, the governance structure of the privately owned football firm exhibits superior abilities to tap sources of funding and channel them into playing talent. The results of the analysis are applied to current developments in German and English football and to recent initiatives of the Football Governing Bodies.