Press conference as a tehnique for building of media relations in sports and an increase of content about mega-sports events

Received: 16.9.2025                          DOI:

The most common definitions of public relations relate to its managerial function. According to Coombs and Holladay, public relations is “the management of mutually influential relationships within a web of stakeholder and organizational relationships” (Coombs, 2007). Earlier, Grunig and Hunt offered still influential definition: “Public relations is the management of communication between and organization and its publics” (Grunig, Hunt 1984).

There is a crucial difference between public relations and media relations. Public relations provide “a three-step process” which includes the following consequtive steps: (1) organizations listen to and support the public’s expectations for reasonable behavior; (2) the behavior of those organizations matches these expectations; and, at the end, (3) they are publicly recognized as trustworthy. The media relations, on the other hand, are a specific sub-branch of public relations dealing with the third stage of the process - recognition. So, the key task of the specialist in relations with the contemporary mass-media, is not to get attention, but “to gain the trust of the public” (Rus et al., 2022). Media relations (MR) are essential to public relations and “have long been considered a key facet of public relations” (Verhoeven, 2016). Indeed, MR is a basic strategy in public relations, with the main goal to influence the content of media coverage. In fact, the media practitioner acts as a sort of “pre-reporter” for the journalist, giving them all the information that they need (Supa, 200).

Sports have long used the function of public relations to promote the big game and highlight key players. Tournaments and mega-sport events, brand sponsors and their media partners rely on athletes ‘playing ball’ and “participating in their media commitments” (Cox et al., 2025). The most important sporting events or competitions, like any special event, can be the reason behind a serious communication activity, prepared and analysed through public relations (Perić et al., 2019). Success and/or failure are not only measured on the sports arena, but also in the newspaper headlines, on the television and the computer screens and, of course, in the bank accounts. The motto once proposed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin - “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (faster, higher, stronger) - is turning slowly into a new, more appropriate motto, as some authors see this: “Faster, higher, stronger, bigger (business) and especially - more PR” (Tamir et al., 2015).

Sports and news media have a long, historical connection so intertwined that some scholars have combined the terms into one, “mediasport”, which implies that media and sport share a “symbiotic relationship”, each needing the other to survive (Klein-mann, 2020). Consequently, there is a symbiotic relationship between journalists and athletes (Li et al., 2022). Public relations, as a distinctive function, according to Kleinmann, is able to diseminate main organizational messages as “news” using media as a credible third party, while pre-match features, in-match interviews, and post-match news conferences offer “key venues to inform fans about an array of sports topics and correct misinformation when necessary” (Kleinmann, 2020).

This paper contains several sections. First, the theoretical framework of the research is presented, which describes and explains the constitutive elements of the press conference, as a special type of speech event. Then, the details of the applied methodological procedure, which includes the use of content analysis of printed media, are briefly stated. In the main part of the paper, the results of the selected press conferences are presented and interpreted. Finally, the authors propose several measures to improve the usefulness of press conferences for the media.

Theoretical framework

Press conferences (sometimes called news conferences) are example of institutional interaction. This type of speech situation characterizes an external goal which predetermines, for instance, participants’ roles, topic selection, turn-taking, and power relations. Also, always exists a special organisation of the space in which the interaction takes place (often with a symbolic significance) and the use of a language for special purposes (Straniero, 2007; Jevtović, 2007). In sports press conferences, unlike other forms of institutional interaction; for example, medical consultations), power asymmetry and social distance are significantly reduced: here, coaches and players (interviewees) are not the only experts with specialised knowledge but also sports journalists (interviewers). Press conferences are most frequently called by sports organizations, clubs or athletes themselves or are routinely held events in which the latter inform the public on their activities. Since press conferences often involve a higher number of participating journalists, one can say about so-called “one-to-many” interaction.

The press conferences held during major football and basketball tournaments and league competitions (for instance, in Europe Championships League in football or Euroleague in basketball) have the function of allowing journalists direct access to coaches and leading players on the eve of matches and just afterwards for comments. In fact, the crucial reason for journalists to attend such speech events is to get last-minute information or comments on games, often in the form of quotations for their game reports. Gathering quotes from a coach at a press conference in order to write an article about forthcoming game would fall under the category of routine channel. In other words, these stories are based mostly on a journalist’s specialism and heavily use of scheduled events, such as press conferences and post-match interviews.

The typical structure of sports press conferences includes several recognizable speech events: (1) an opening with words of welcome; (2) procedural announcements and other house-keeping moments; (3) questions, answers, and comments; and, (4) a closing statement. Certainly, questions and answers are the essential part of the press conferences. At the end, a moderator makes a brief summary of the conference, focusing on the most relevant issues and thanking journalists for participating. If the discussion is going on, and, the issues are interesting for the majority of journalists, the conference may be extended by no more than 15-20 minutes (Olariu. Nichifor, 2015). This structure, depending on the circumstances, may change, so that news conferences can be held in which the moderator will not “make any opening statement, but will answer questions directly about an event or organization” (Rus et al., 2022). In any case, the press conference should be a dialogue between representatives of an institution and journalists. One can accept the notion that press conference represents probably the most open method of promotion since “at the same time provide information and may hear some feedback journalists as representatives of the public and answer their questions, which often include the topics that deviate from the originally planned for the conference” (Zuber, Božičević, 2015). Although such issues might be outside the agenda, they should not be avoided. The organization should find out answers on provocative questions in order to strengthen its image.

The sports press conferences have narrow range of topics, and, therefore, the limited degree of their lexical variety (Table 1). On the other hand, it allows sports journalists to be easier prepared both mentally and terminologically. According to many findings, the post-match press conferences are most frequently shorter than pre-match press conferences. The average duration of each press conference was around twenty minutes (Sandrelli, 2012). Post-match press conferences, according to Cox et al. (2025)., “require athletes to articulate difficult thoughts about their performance, fitness and personal lives shortly after competition”. Since press conferences provide a platform for media to directly quote players and coaches and their communication, this can lead to interpretation, and, possibly, adversarial framing, which may have a negative impact on the athletes’ mental health (Faustin et al., 2022).

Table 1. Typical topics on sports press conferences

Pre-match press conferences

• -    questions about the next match,

• -    historical precedents between the two teams,

• -    likely line-up and other tactical arrangements,

• -    the expectations of the head coach and his opinion on the opponents;

• -    enquiries are sometimes made on players’,

• -    fitness and concentration.

Post-match press conferences

• -    assessment of the match that has just been played,

• -    assessment of refereeing (sometimes),

• -    assessment of individual players’ performances (sometimes),

• -    questions dealing with the forthcoming match ahead,

• -    gratitude to the fans.

A comprehensive discussion of speech events identified in the FOOTIE corpus can be found elsewhere, together with an overview of the football-related translation market and of the interpreters’ conditions of work during EURO2008 (Sandrelli 2012). This paper has a different focus: it pays attention on some practical aspects of recently conducted press conferences in Serbia in one of the most popular sports games: football.

There are three specific participants in this communicative event: (1) interviewers, to ask questions, (2) interviewees, to answer them, and, (3) moderators whose duties are opening and closing press conferences, explaining procedures and managing turn-taking smoothly. Clearly, there is “a plurality to the press conference: with multiple participants and hierarchies at play” (Cox et al., 2025: 4). Each press conference contains a number of speech events, and, their duration is more important than the duration of the whole conference. Usually, during the press conferences, the vast majority of questions and answers last from a few seconds to a few minutes (Sandrelli, 2012). Sports press conferences are an area in need of more study and critique, especially regarding how sports journalists ask questions to athletes. Preevent sports press conferences remain largely unexamined by sport sociologists.

Methodological approach

The methodology used in this study included content analysis. This research method is applicable to the cases when is necessary to determine, describe, and classify the characteristics of a message (Neuendorf, 2002; Manić, 2017). Content analysis, despite well-known advantages of quantitative research, has a respected role among qualitative methods due to its several attributes. First of all, qualitative content analysis (QCA) allows for critical reflection by considering the context in which the data were gathered. Second, QCA is very useful when is required to determine the overall tone of newspaper articles on certain themes, identify key actors who express their opinion, and highlight specific topics emphasized in the analyzed textual units.

Due to the research objectives of this study, media content after sports news conferences that have been recently organized, published in printed media was analyzed. This included newspaper articles of an informative (news reports, inteviews) and analytical (commentaries, articles, etc) nature. Two distinguished days were selected - October 7, 2025, and October 11, 2025 - since these days followed the press conferences that Dragan Stojković, the Serbia’s national football team coach hold six days and one day, respecivelly, before the most important match to Albania within the Group K of the World Cup qualifiers (2026). The two chosen conferences were important since this was the space where the coach met with the media, and it was through these ‘meetings’ that his communication and response to the media’s questions became directly available to the public.

Almost all Serbian daily newspapers were analyzed: Politika, Danas, Sportski žurnal, Večernje novosti, Blic, Kurir, Informer, Nova, and Alo. The first two daily newspapers have the characteristics of high-quality, influential and reputable press with greater social influence. Sportski žurnal is the only specialized sports daily newspaper in Serbia. The rest of chosen printed media were tabloids. The subject of the analysis also included the cover page content of these newspapers, as it could serve as an indicator of the importance editors attribute to topics related to football and crucial sports event such as a decisive football match as a part of the World Cup qualifiers (2026). Therefore, the selected period of sampling coincides with a series of press conferences, related to various aspects of the Serbia’s match against Albania on October 11, 2025.

Results and discusion

The former midfielder football player Dragan Stojković, nicknamed Piksi, took over as Serbia coach in 2021. As a player he made 84 appearances for the former Yugoslavia between 1983 and 2001, and was one of the first top-tier European players to venture into Japanese football. Stojković was with J-League side Nagoya Grampus Eight between 1994 and 2001. After retiring as a player, Stojković was briefly chairman of Red Star Belgrade, before turning to coaching first Nagoya, and later Chinese side Guangzhou.

Stojković landed the Serbia job in 2021 and had taken charge of 55 games. He had led the team to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the Euros in 2024. Overall, he has spent four years, six months and eight days as a coach of the Serbain national football team. The game to Albania (on October 11, 2025) was relocated from Serbia’s capital to the southern city of Leskovac because of security fears, with the two countries having a long history of political tensions.

The Serbia-Albania match was part of Group K of the World Cup qualifiers to be in the United States, Mexico and Canada (2026). The defeat to the Albanians would have been extra painful due to the rivalry between the two nations. Their dislike is rooted in history and politics, especially over Kosovo which declared its indepen-dence in 2008. Albania supported Kosovo while Serbia did not recognise it which has kept tensions high and the conflict often spills into football. This was evidenced when a 2014 clash between the two was abandoned after a drone with an Albanian flag sparked a brawl between the players. The 11 October 2025 was the nice oppor-tunity for ‘revenge’.

Serbia, however, lost 1:0 to Albania - probably the biggest defeat in recent history of national football team.

Press conference held five days before the match

Serbia’s football coach, Dragan Stojković, spoke firstly at a news conference on October 6, five days ahead of the match against Albania. He expressed great expectations, focusing on aims for more than just qualifying for the World Cup: “We have to think about the objectives, and the current one is qualification. Whether I will be there or not is of little importance. What is important is that Serbia continues to participate in major competitions. This is very important and this is what I am thinking about. I do not dream about this, but I am focused on that epilogue at the end.”

Stojković said that Serbia’s national team learned a lot from the crushing defeat (on September 9, 2025) to England in Belgrade (5:0): “A bad day, a bad match can happen. We were not at the right level, we were not able to cope with England. That defeat was completely deserved. Of course, we learn from every match. But if you look at the results, Barcelona conceded four goals in Sevilla, Real five from Atletico. A bad day happens. Sevilla is not a better team than Barcelona either, but that’s how it is. Every match in the qualifiers is important, that’s how we approach it. England is an archive, it’s behind us. Now only Albania is important, and then we will talk about Andorra. We are only thinking about solving the match with Albania in our favor. There is no point in going back to the past, you have to look towards the future.”

He admited that the match against Albania will be crucial for second place in the group. Albania and Serbia faced each other on June 7. The match in Tirana ended in a 0:0 draw. Stojković openly claimed: “Everything depends on us. The match against Albania is decisive. It is a fight for second place and an elimination match in March. I believe that we have the strength, that we have enough quality to achieve this goal.” Stojković also hi-ghly praised Albania’s national team: “Albania has a great team, it’s our big rival. Looking at the table, it’s absolutely the advantage above all advantages. You can’t play against France, Portugal, Germany every day... You have to play at this level. Regardless of whether it’s attractive or not, for me it’s the most important match and opponent at the moment.”

Stojković has said that Serbia will not make any changes to the game system (“no time for experimentation”), and, highly praised the stadium “Dubočica” in Leskovac, having a capacity of 8.136 seats: “It’s not the first time we’ve played in Leskovac. We’ve played before. That stadium is not unknown to us, we know everyone there. It’s up to us to play well and win the game. We have to play well, that’s why we’re preparing, to make our fans and our people happy. I know that other aspects will be mentioned, but we have to focus only on sport and football. Just like we were in Tirana, when we started the qualifiers, if you remember.”

It is somewhat awkward that on this type of conference that the national coach had the next comment: “I will respond to all the comments given by various analysts and experts. Maybe someone is rooting for Albania this time, I don’t believe it, but maybe there are. Which would be crazy. But we are preparing maximally for these two matches.” Several of Stojković’s players have injury problems ahead of the Albania and Andorra games.

This conference, despite the fact that it was held five days earlier, probably due to the importance of the match itself, had a good response in the print media. This is confirmed by the contents that were published the next day in the analyzed dailies within the sports column, that is, the football column when it comes to the Sportski žurnal (Table 2). Journalists mostly applied the routine way of reporting on such events, conveying almost the entire content of the conference through the quotes of coach Stojković. Journalists most often used 7 to 9 quotes. The article published in the daily newspaper Alo is double-edged since it was completely composed of the quoted statements of selector Stojković. Several newspapers expressed their critical attitude towards the national team of Serbia and coach Stojković because of the heavy defeat against England. Thus, the newspaper Informer pointed out that the match with Albania was an opportunity to make up for the "shameful defeat" by the English on September 9, 2025. Večernje novosti did not share the optimism of coach Stojković, stating that Serbia, "hand on heart," is not a particular favorite at the stadium in Les-kovac. In accordance with this, a photo of the selector from the football field was chosen, where he is standing in front of the board where he is working out the possible team settings. The name of the picture - "combination" - indicates that the selector is not the most prepared for this most important match. Similar doubts are present in the text of Politika: "Dragan Stojković tries to be calm despite the constant pressure, which mostly comes from the address where he started in the serious world of football, but, definitely, our football coach is often followed by nightmares." This criticism continued in electronic media also. In the time that followed, the coach’s personality (arrogance, for instance) and profe-ssional qualities were also under scrutiny.

Table 2. Coverage of the press conference (on October 6) about decisive match to Albania in the Serbian daily newspapers

Daily	Quates	% of sports coverage	Coach’s photographs	Players’ photographs	Frontpage
Politika	9	25	1	1 (team)
Danas	7	50	0	1 (team)
Sportski žurnal	21	13	2, press	1	+
Večernje novosti	4	20	1	1 (team)
Blic	9	40	1, press	1
Kurir	9	25	1	1	+
Informer	6	25	1, press	1 (team)
Nova	9	30	1	2
Alo	8	50	1, press	4	+

The most important messages of coach Dragan Stojković Piksi are presented in the analyzed texts in the titles listed in Table 3. The word "barrage" appears most often in the titles (five times), followed by the words Albania (three times: Politika, Blic and Kurir) or Albanians (Informer). Serbia is mentioned in one title - "Serbia will play a barrage" (Alo).

Table 3. Headlines of the texts about the press conference held by Serbia’s coach Dragan Stojković Piksi

Daily	Headline
Politika	Victory over Albania opens the door to the barrage
Danas	Stojković: I know the team and how to play
Sportski žurnal	It depends solely on us whether we will play in the barrage
Večernje novosti	Decimated for the decisive match
Blic	Piksi: I don't feel pressure, maybe someone will cheer for Albania
Kurir	Dragan Stojković: We have injured players, but we are going to the barrage for the World Cup via Albania
Informer	Piksi: We have to beat the Albanians
Nova	Piksi is not worried about injuries, promises a barrage before the decisive match
Alo	Serbia will play in the barrage

Press conference held one day before the match

Serbia’s coach Dragan Stojković spoke at a press conference on October 10, a day before the crucial game in Leskovac: “We have a tough match ahead of us. A sporting rival, a very good team. The expectations are that we win. This is one of the most important matches, if not the most important, for the placement. We know the importance and that’s how we are preparing. The important thing is that the players are calm and focused. We are ready to give our maximum and make the whole country happy with the victory.” He also emphasized: “The important thing is that we win and then I will be the hero of the country. Those whistles are not correct, they have a political connotation. I was surprised. We had seven points, we were in the game, it turned out to be meaningless. But okay. The important thing is that tomorrow the people who come support the players towards victory. Albania is a rival in many aspects, but we will remain calm on the field and we will do what is necessary.” He revealed that he had a clear starting lineup, confirming part of it (goalkeeper, offenders).

Stojković spoke in superlatives about the atmosphere in Tirana in the first match (on June 7, 2025). He was attacked by the Serbian media for his statements. He once again said that the atmosphere in “Air Albania” was like the most passionate Argentine derby. He said to journalists: “It’s not the same match, there was an Argentine atmosphere, as if Boca and River had played. And it was really good to play, although someone interpreted it in a negative sense. We were calm, there was no tension, we controlled the match. This match is not the same because they are guests, they don’t have support from the stands. We are the hosts and we want to confirm the quality by playing a competitive match. We have to be patient. It will be a match with a lot of intensity, it is impossible for a match like this to be boring.”

He said that Serbia will play an offensive game from the start, and, that Sylvinho (coach of Albania’s national team) will not to surprise him: “I think it can’t. They have what they have. Whether they will play 4-5-1 or 4-3-3, it doesn’t matter. The most important thing for me is that they will play with four at the back. The match is live, it can never be predicted. A penalty, a red card and everything you have prepared goes down the drain. We will try to be good in attack and defense and there will be moments like that. We don’t want it to happen to us like against England where out of five goals we concede four from interceptions. We have worked for this. If the Albanians are better than us, we will congratulate them. But I don’t believe in this.”

On this press conference, Aleksandar Mitrović also spoke. Mitrović helped the Serbian national team to win the 2013 European Under-19 Championship, being voted the best player of the tournament. That same year, he played his first game for the senior national team and has since earned 103 caps (before the match against Albania on October 11, 2025) representing Serbia at the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup, as well as UEFA Euro 2024. With 63 goals, he is Serbia’s all-time record goalscorer. Taking part in this conference, Mitrović mostly claimed that he would be ready to begin the match, after recovery of a prolonged injury, and, that he, as well as the whole team feels pleasantly in Niš, Leskovac, and smaller stadium in this town. He highlihted the following facts: “I feel good in Leskovac because I score goals here. The whole team feels good in Niš, Leskovac, at the stadium and in the atmosphere here... From the moment we arrive until the moment we leave. We have support until the final whistle.”

The media conference, held just one day before the decisive match against Albania, also had a great impact in the print media. This is confirmed by the data obtained from the analysis of published texts in daily newspapers on October 11 (Table 4). Unlike the previous conference, the texts are equipped with a larger number of photos of the players, especially Aleksandar Mitrović (AM), who also participated in the press conference. In the second column, the total number of quotes is given, while the figures in parentheses refer to the number of quotes of coach Dragan Stojković and team captain Aleksandar Mitrović (AM), respectively. Excerpts from this conference were on the front pages of six daily newspapers.

Table 5 lists the titles of the so-called announcements, the deciding match for participation in the world championship in football. The word "barrage" appears most often in the headlines (five times), followed immediately by the words Albania (three times: Blic, Kurir and Informer) and Albanians (Sportski Journal). Journalists found the phrase about the "hero of the nation" interesting, and three daily newspapers included it in their headlines (Blic, Nova and Alo). This is not surprising in terms of specific long-lasting national culture of Serbia. This country is a collectivistic society in which citizens belong to groups - they are, thus, interconnected, loyal and show a high level of conformity. Recently, Mitić and Wattles (2023: 56), in line with this, have noticed: “In the media, national sport representatives and teams are portrayed as an embodiment of national ideals, strength, success, and pride. Top athletes are seen as kings and national heroes. They are the best among us and their sport successes are generalized into all other personal qualities. They have the power to make everyone else winners or losers; they are the guardians of a nation’s pride and honor, keepers of tradition”. The Serbian national coach’s media strategy, therefore, was based on his wish to communicate optimism, enthusiasm, and, create great expectations. In this way, the Serbia’s national team would again ‘become the team of the people’, and, the coach would become ‘hero of the nation’. Thus national football team becomes “a metonymy of a nation” (Małczyński, 2021).

Table 4. Coverage of the press conference (on October 11) about decisive match to Albania in the Serbian daily newspapers

Daily	Quates	% of sports coverage	Coach’s photographs	Players’ photographs	Frontpage
Politika	9 (7+2)	30	0	0
Danas	3	37	1, press	1
Sportski žurnal	7 (3+4)	25	1, press	0	+
Večernje novosti	7 (5+2)	18	1	2	+
Blic	7 (6+1)	50	1	1	+
Kurir	6 (6+1)	25	2, press	2	+
Informer	4 (3+1)	20	1	2	+
Nova	8 (7+1)	33	1	2	+
Alo	8 (6+2)	35	1	4	+

Table 5. Headlines of the texts about the press conference held by Serbia’s coach Dragan Stojković Piksi and Aleksandar Mitrović (AM)

Daily	Headline
Politika	The most important test on the way to the World Cup
Danas	We want six points
Sportski žurnal	Stojković: Albanians will congratulate us Mitrović: We like to play in Leskovac
Večernje novosti	There will be congratulations after the match
Blic	If we beat Albania I will probably be the hero of the nation
Kurir	For Serbia Piksi: Albania have an exceptional team, but we expect to beat them
Informer	Stojković: We will destroy Albania in Leskovac
Nova	When we win, I will be the hero of the nation, I don't care about the whistles
Alo	Piksi: I will be the nation's hero

Press conference held an hour after the match

Stojković revealed that he had already spoken to the president and general secretary when he entered his post-match press conference. “I spoke with the president and general secretary and I offered my resignation”, Stojković told on a post-match news conference, and repeated previously given expectations: “I personally did not expect this defeat. I am someone who accepts full responsibility and is solely accountable.” For many newspapers abroad it was a big surprise. The Sun, one of well-known British tabloids had the following headline: “SERBIAN boss Dragan Stojkovic sensationally QUIT his job just minutes after defeat to Albania. ”

In regard to the responsibility of the players and himself, and the mistakes made during the match against Albania, Stojković said: “The responsibility is everyone’s. We didn’t score, they did. The first half was decent, we created chances. We didn’t manage to put the ball in. A cold shower before halftime. A lot of offensive players, but no final passes. The guys tried, I’m to blame. What we agreed to do - we did -but it wasn’t enough. I stand in their defense. If someone had told me this would happen, I wouldn’t have believed it. There were beautiful moments, but now we’ve disappointed the nation. I’m ready to accept the consequences, and there will be no excuses.”

When asked about fielding a large number of debutants for Serbia’s decisive match, Stojković replied: “Someone has to make their debut. It’s not an excuse; these guys have quality and a future. That’s my responsibility, no problem. Don’t criticize the players, I’m the one most responsible.” Stojković also refused to travel to the next match of the Serbian national team, on October 14, 2025, in Andorra. According to his words: “It’s a specific moment. I don’t think I should travel to Andorra. It would be irrational for me to go. I told them that. I said I’m not going to Andorra, my assistant will lead the match. That’s life. There’s no need to make a fuss about it.”

The Serbian football federation said in a statement on October 12, 2025, that -Stojković’s resignation was accepted after the loss in Leskovac. Serbia’s Under-21 coach Zoran Mirković took interim charge for Group K match to Andorra (October 14, 2025) ahead of a meeting on October 17, 2025, regarding further changes in the national team set-up. Despite a huge defeat, the Serbian national football association issed the statement: “The Football Association of Serbia would like to take this opportunity to express its gratitude to Dragan Stojković for everything he has done in the past four and a half years at the helm of the national team. Primarily in qualifying for the World and European Championships, as well as winning first place in Division B of the League of Nations and maintaining its status in the elite ranks of European football.”

Even those who thought moving the match to Leskovac was a good idea were thoroughly disillusioned during the 90 painful minutes of a game that was supposed to be the most important of the year. The national team was “taken away” from the majority of its fans - the same fans who a month ago were calling for and predicting Piksi’s departure. The B92 portal, for example, noticed: “Had it happened after the debacle against England, perhaps it would have been less painful to remain at the ‘Marakana’ and, with a new coach, endure the thunder of 40,000 supporters, possibly avoiding one of the most painful - if not the most painful - defeats ever (B92). The whole package - the defeat against Albania, the likely elimination from the World Cup, the coach’s departure, the unexpected struggle to save our chargers, and the painfully tense atmosphere - leads to the conclusion that none of us deserved this. Not the players, not the coaches, not the journalists, and especially not the fans.”

It has been known for a long time that journalists were mostly unsatisfied with the way how Stojković approached the media. Večernje novosti (on October 14), for instance, stated that Stojković, unfortunately, during the last year betrayed the basic principles of his work. It was obvious in terms of how he “selected the team and created the formation but also in regard to the way how he outside the field communicated with the public.” A good illustration of this is his attack after one journalist’s question which, according to Serbia’s national football team coach, was “stupid.” The question, in fact, was: “Whether he had lost control of the team?” It seems that the question deeply affected his self-esteem, rejecting any crticism: “They keep asking such stupid questions. Did anyone see a fight here? It’s not right to ask me something like that. Ask the players if they were satisfied with my work. I told them what I thought. I apologize for calling the question stupid. Journalists like to take inventory of my assets as if I were a criminal. This is neither nice nor right.”

He followed the conference with the next statements: “I accept the consequences. It’s not a tragedy when a national team captain leaves. I will always remain a fan of the Serbian national team, and they can always count on my support,” and, then, began to cry about his own state of mind. The victim role, so common behavior in the Balkans, could not be avoided. This illustrates the following claim: “I’ve been feeling bad for a while now. They’re calling me names. People think they have the right to insult me, to say humiliating things. I didn’t feel like I deserved it. The atmosphere wasn’t good. I held on as long as I could.” Overall, these conferences indicate that so-caled ‘media hunt’, as Andersen et al. call it, can be avoided, to some extent, if coaches know media (2021).

Many players find participation in press conferences exhausting and stressful (Kristiansen, 2011). It can be frustrating, sometimes, for journalists when sportspeople aren’t forthcoming with answers. This can be attributed to the fact that journalists are often limited to just one or two questions, causing them to either stick to high-level an generic questions, or to highlight those that will allow them the most interesting (or sensationalist) quotes. On the other hand, sports journalists have a duty to ask meaningful questions that are directly relevant to the sport in question and focus on giving readers insight into the game and match play. Objectively speaking, this is why vast majority of people follow athletes - to better understand the games that they love and follow. Perhaps, some of possible advancements of traditional news conferences could be somewhat changed news conference scenario, leaving a space to, for example, five-minute one-on-one interview. Namely, this form of speech event allows sports journalists to ask more questions, instead of one (or eventually two on traditional conferences), in order to write a more insightful article. Finally, it might be reasonable to organize press conferences within a certain timeframe after a game instead of immediately after it. Coaches and players then have time to emotionally prepare themselves and hopefully be in a better place to give more thoughtful and authentic responses. Journalists, on the other hand, have a plenty of time to prepare their stories. For instance, the last conference by Serbia’s coach Stojković was held just twenty minutes before midnight on October 11, 2025.

The prevailing wisdom is that speaking to media is just ‘part of the job’ for athletes, independently of their feelings, expectations and alike. Given how influential publicity is in increasing viewer interest, there’s a strong expectation that players talk to the press, immediately after the match. In any case, the regular engagement in a formalized media format, unlike social media, presents, “a performance of transparency - holding players to account - and is a vehicle for sponsorship visibility” (Cox et al., 2025: 2). It seems, however, the conflictual nature of a press conference is difficult to overcome. Elsa Kristiansen identifies conflict as the hearth of the press conference (2011) while Sznycer sees it as the “adversarial framework” (Sznycer, 2010). For this reason, the limited academic research on sport press conferences has highlighted the ways in which the typical occurrence of the press conference impacts on the mental health and/or the performance of elite athletes (Kristiansen et al., 2011; Faustin et al., 2022).

The three considered press conferences cleary reveal that various actors involved in sports and media have a symbiotic relationship. Very important matches may create content that people want to read about or learn more about – the newspapers, for instance, can capitalise on this to drive readdership numbers (Henen, Djameleddine, 2025). Meanwhile, publicity provided by the national newspapers helps increase fan engagement for the players and brand reach for sponsors, which contributes financially to the sport. Yet, the analysed case in this study (Serbia’s coach approach to jour- nalists) indicates that problems arise when all parties involved fail to consider and respect each other’s ways of communication. It should be taken into account that superiority of traditional media, such as newspapers, is increasingly being challenged by various competitors such as, for instance, data specialists, fan bloggers, and owned media (Ilievska Kostadinović, Kostadinović, 2025). Social media has proved to be a powerful tool for sportspeople as a means to avoid the traditional press.

Conclusion

One can conclude, on the basis of three considered and compared press confrences, that is not easy to achieve the objectives of such speech events. First of all, media, tournaments and associations need sportsmen (mostly, coaches and players) to make themselves available for pre- and post-match news conferences. The journalist’s role is to provide direct commentary from sportspeople to the public, and, also, to rise fan engagement with the sportsmen and the brands they represent.

The crucial role of sports journalists is to help the general public understanding of sports and various actors (managers, coaches and players). On the basis of the right questions and their own experience, journalists may provide insights, break down the specific technicalities of the sport and provide a more nuanced human element to the sport and the actors involved. Furthermore, the more that sportspeople feel that reporters are truly interested in their opinions and experiences (helping them tell their stories), the more forthcoming the sportspeople will be.

The above analysed cases confirm the common expectation that press conference, despite rise of new communicative practices (for instance, social media), remaines worthwhile. Rich professional sports history tells us when a team should organize a news conference rather than offering no comment or sending out a simple press release. Apologizing for the team, player, or coach’s misgivings, or declaring the hiring or firing of a team’s coaching staff or front office leadership is all worthy of a show. When a team helps craft the message with a news conference, it’s often relayed to fans in a more favorable light.

The obtained and presented results reveal that sports press conferences influence news coverage by helping organizations control the narrative, increase visibility, and manage crises, but they also carry risks for journalists and sources. The effects vary depending on the newsworthiness of the information, the organization's reputation, and the media landscape.

Acknowledgment:

The research presented in this paper was conducted with the financial support of the Ministry of Science, Technological Development, and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, within the framework of funding scientific research at the University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, under contract number 451-03-47/202301/200131.

Conflict of interests:

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Author Contributions: