Background: Swedish elite football is developing and becoming more professional with each passing year, and club organizations need to keep up with the progress in the sport.To achieve this, organizations must evolve on several levels, where the relevance of professional roles has become increasingly important, and strategies as well as structures are being given higher priority. These professional roles are evolving, and more new types of roles are being introduced and implemented. However, there is a lack of individuals with expertise in the new areas that football is exploring and seeking to implement within its operations. The major clubs in European football possess significant financial resources and are expanding their coaching and support staff, a trend that is also influencing Swedish football. Swedish clubs now face a crossroads: either to follow the developments taking place across European football or to focus on their own context and consider what organizations in Sweden can do to evolve.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand how the clubs within Swedish Elite Football (SEF) work with organizational development around their first team, with regard to commercialization. In addition, the study aims to understand how the clubs professionalize their sporting organizations.

Question: How do the football clubs that belong to SEF work to professionalize the organization around the first team? What types of roles are most important for a football organization in the Swedish context that aims to develop the organization?

Methodology: The thesis is based on a qualitative method consisting of six semi-structured interviews with club leaders from six of the SEF clubs and the interest organization SEF, as well as a complementary content analysis of documents from the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) and SEF.

Conclusion: In the conclusion, the study’s research questions are addressed based on the authors’ interpretation of the analysis, focusing on how Swedish elite football clubs are becoming more professional and which professional roles are crucial in the clubs' development. The results of the study highlight the importance of maintaining continuity in the most vital professional roles and having sound financial resources. Another conclusion is that the organizations aim to use a more specialized recruitment process with clear requirements and role descriptions. Finally, suggestions for further research within the same field are provided.