Relocation of professional sports teams occurs when a team owner moves a team, generally from one metropolitan area to another, but occasionally between municipalities in the same conurbation.
 In Europe, moves are very rare[citation needed] because of the different relationship between clubs and their league in the European system of professional sports league organization. The practice is considered anathema. In most European sports, teams can be relegated from their current league to a lower one or promoted to the one above.
 At least three clubs were forced to move due to the 1974 Turkish invasion of that country:
 In 1967, the top-tier but deep in-debt Toulouse FC, located in Toulouse, merged with Paris suburbs Red Star, then a tier-2 club, actually moving the entire club, including players and staff, 700 kilometres (430 mi) North. This created a major scandal, leading to legislation changes, in particular the 1984 Avice law, which prevents out-of-departement fusions or moves for all sports
 Due to the Abkhaz–Georgian conflict several clubs from the region cannot compete in the Georgian league and therefore several clubs have been re-founded by internally displaced persons from Abkhazia in Tbilisi, and although the original clubs continue to exist in exile, and no actual move has occurred, the Abkhaz peoples who had founded these club consider the clubs to be the continuation of the original club:
 Due to the Georgian–Ossetian conflict, several teams have been displaced:
 While football club moves have so far been unusual in West German football, it was a rather common practice in communist East Germany. As teams were dependent on the regime, it intervened several times to promote an equal distribution of teams across the country. A number of prominent East German teams were affected by these political moves, and even in modern-day Germany, the reason for the regional dominance of some teams and the roots of many strong rivalries can be found there.
 Major moves in the DDR-Oberliga:
 In recent times, team moves have become a more common feature in sports that are less popular with the German public. Notable examples include former ice hockey team München Barons (became the Hamburg Freezers in 2002), former handball side VfL Bad Schwartau (became HSV Handball in 2002) and basketball club Bayer Giants Leverkusen (Düsseldorf Giants since 2008).
 Until the mid-2000s, moving and renaming smaller teams was a common method for larger teams in Hungary to evade their financial crisis or to level up in the league system without winning promotion on-pitch, a method that became so popular and controversial it had to be prohibited.
 Current Italian football laws allow clubs to move only between bordering cities, although there have been some exceptions. Some examples include:
 Irish clubs moving out of their original district are slightly more common. In certain cases, the club has moved within a conurbation.
 Team moves are very rare in the Netherlands. The most prominent case involves professional football club Almere City FC. When 1964 Eredivisie champion and 1964–65 European Cup quarter finalist DWS was merged into FC Amsterdam, its supporters founded amateur football club De Zwarte Schapen, named after their nickname, which translates as Black Sheep. The club quickly rose through the ranks of amateur football, eventually reaching the Hoofdklasse. After several violent incidents on the pitch and a six-month suspension by the Royal Dutch Football Association, the club moved from Amsterdam to nearby Almere (a "new town") and changed its name to Sporting Flevoland. That name was changed to FC Omniworld in the 1990s, and FC Omniworld was admitted to the Eerste Divisie for the 2005–06 season.
 Team moves are slightly more common in other sports in the Netherlands. Volleyball club AMVJ, for instance, moved from Amsterdam to Amstelveen in 1980. The men's team was subsequently moved to Almere in 1999, becoming VC Omniworld, the volleyball branch of the aforementioned FC Omniworld.
 The most notable example is the 1996 move of the ice hockey team Spektrum Flyers from Oslo to Bergen.
 Otherwise, team moves are rare, although mergers, for instance of teams of neighboring settlements, are common. Moving has sometimes happened on the top level of women's football. SK Sprint-Jeløy was moved from Jeløy to Moss under the new name FK Athene Moss. Asker Fotball's women's team was absorbed by Stabæk Fotball ahead of the 2009 season. Ahead of the 2010 season Team Strømmen FK (which formerly had been moved from Aurskog-Høland) was absorbed by Lillestrøm SK, and Gjøvik FK absorbed by Raufoss IL.
 Although no major moves have occurred, two clubs from the capital Stockholm have changed municipality (AIK) and acquired another team into their club colours (Hammarby Ishockey) respectively. AIK was formed in Stockholm in 1891 but then moved to neighbouring Solna in 1937. Hammarby IF had an ice hockey section that was shut down in 2008. In 2013, the club Bajen Fans Hockey then changed their name to Hammarby Ishockey, thereby becoming one of very few clubs in Sweden that have acquired another club and made it their own. Also see AFC Eskilstuna.
 In Switzerland only one move has happened so far. The Zürich-based football club Grasshoppers Zürich under company name "Die Neue Grasshopper Fussball AG" controversially moved their headquarters in 2005 from the city itself to Niederhasli. The addition of Zurich was remained in the club's name and the team is still playing in the city of Zurich at Letzigrund (the home stadium of their old rival FC Zürich, a temporary measure while Stadion Zürich is being built). All other teams of the club are playing Niederhasli.
 The fans of Grasshoppers Club protested the move, claiming the club has lost part of its identity.
 Due to the War in Donbass, several clubs have temporarily moved for an indefinite period of time due to safety concerns. Shakhtar Sverdlovsk and Avanhard Kramatorsk could not find alternative venues and withdrew from all competitions as a result. Those teams that moved continue to participate in all competitions:
 Due to the 2014 Crimean Conflict initially none of the Crimean clubs, Tytan Armyansk, Tavriya Simferopol, Zhemchuzhina Yalta or FC Sevastopol were able to move due to the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and subsequently they all disbanded or became dormant. However some have managed to re-establish themselves: