Do match officials give preferential treatment to the strongest football teams? An analysis of four top European clubs

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 185-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Audrino
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Preferential Treatment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Premier League ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
European Football ◽  
Effect Estimation ◽  
English Premier League ◽  
General Opinion

Abstract We address the fiercely debated question of whether the strongest European football clubs get special, preferential treatment from match officials in their decisions on the teams’ players over the course of the teams’ trophy winning streaks. To give an empirical answer to this question, we apply a rigorous econometric analysis for causal effect estimation to a self-constructed data set. We consider the two clubs in the Italian Serie A that experienced a prolonged winning streak during the period 2006–2016, namely Internazionale Milan (Inter) and Juventus Turin, as well as one team from the German Bundesliga (Borussia Dortmund) and one from the English Premier League (Manchester United) that also experienced a winning streak during the same period. This allows us to perform an analysis with enough statistical power to be able to estimate properly the effect of interest. The general opinion among fans, sports journalists, and insiders that the strongest clubs are favored by match officials’ decisions is supported only by the results of the analysis we run for Juventus, whereas for the other clubs under investigation, we did not find any significant bias. During its winning streak, more yellow cards and total booking points (an aggregated measure of yellow and red cards) were given to Juventus opponents. These effects are not only statistically significant, but also have a sizeable impact.

The Football Team Composition Problem: a Stochastic Programming approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 113-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Pantuso
Keyword(s):  
Programming Approach ◽  
Football Players ◽  
Steady Growth ◽  
Premier League ◽  
Football Team ◽  
Composition Problem ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
European Football ◽  
English Premier League

Abstract Most professional European football clubs are well-structured businesses. Therefore, the financial performance of investments in players becomes crucial. In this paper, after the problem is discussed and formalized, an optimization model with the objective of maximizing the expected value of the team is presented. The model ensures that the team has the required mix of skills, that competition regulations are met, and that budget limits are respected. The model explicitly takes into account the uncertainty in the career development of football players. A case study based on the English Premier League is presented. Our results show that the model has significant potential to improve current decisions ensuring a steady growth of the value of the team. The team value growth reported is particularly driven by investments in young prospects.

scholarly journals INDICATORS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR FOOTBALL PLAYERS’ MIGRATION IN LEADING EUROPEAN LEAGUES

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-148
Author(s):  
Eduard Sobol ◽  
Andrii Svatyev ◽  
Eduard Doroshenko
Keyword(s):  
Financial Support ◽  
Football Players ◽  
Financial Activity ◽  
Premier League ◽  
Financial Fair Play ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
Transfer Cost ◽  
European Football ◽  
Increasing Trends ◽  
Generalization Of Data

Introduction. Modern football is characterized by increasing trends in migration and transfer activity in the leading European football leagues and a decrease in the number of students of their own children's and youth academies of the leading football clubs of the European Championships for the period 2009-2019. The aim of the study is to investigate and determine the level of financial support for the migration of qualified players in leading European clubs on the basis of their transfer activities (according to open sources). Material and methods: analysis and generalization of data of scientific and methodical literature sources and the Internet, pedagogical observations, content analysis of materials of official websites of football clubs, UEFA and FIFA, methods of mathematical statistics. Results. In the «TOP-20» ranking of leading European football clubs at the end of 2019 in terms of total transfer costs, which determine the migration of qualified players, there is the following distribution: «Barclays Premier League» (England) – 8 football clubs (40%) with transfer costs € 4,726 million (43,40%); «Liga de Futbol Profesional, Primera Division» (Spain) – 4 football clubs (20%) with transfer costs of 2415 million € (22,17%); «Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A TIM» (Italy) – 4 football clubs (20%) with transfer costs of € 1,816 million (16,67%); «Le championnat de France de football» (France) – 2 football clubs (10%) with transfer costs of 1261 million € (11,58%); «Fußball-Bundesliga» (Germany) – 2 football clubs (10%) with a transfer cost of € 673 million (6,18%). Conclusions. Analysis of the structure of profits «TOP-20» ranking of leading European clubs, shows that the average is: about 44% – the sale of rights to telecast competitions, about 40% – advertising revenue and about 16% is the share of revenue from tickets and season tickets. Indicators of financial activity of leading European football clubs are monitored by UEFA and FIFA programs for compliance with the requirements and criteria of financial «Fair Play».

scholarly journals The English Premier League Internet Broadcasting Rights Selling Model – Historical Study

GYMNASIUM ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol XIX (2) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Christos Koutroumanides ◽  
Panagiotis Alexopoulos ◽  
Athanasios Laios ◽  
John Douvis
Keyword(s):  
New Record ◽  
Smart Phones ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Live Streaming ◽  
Premier League ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Selling Process ◽  
English Premier League ◽  
Mobile Broadcasting

In the last years football clubs games broadcasting rights selling process, internet and mobile phone packages are included too. Internet is a widely accepted and useful mean of communication, something that was immediately recognized by the football authorities and clubs in all countries. Same ways, the gradually increased use of smart phones led to the inclusion of the mobile broadcasting rights in the total selling rights packages. The latest rights auction is of paramount importance, not only because the rights value will break a new record, but also because among the interested parties and bidders are some of the world’s tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Netflix. Live streaming Premier League matches looks to be the next frontier and PL hope tech giants like Amazon, Google, Facebook and Netflix will enter the auction and push the price of the UK package above its current standing of £5.14billion

scholarly journals Estimation of injury costs: financial damage of English Premier League teams’ underachievement due to injuries

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. e000675
Author(s):  
Eyal Eliakim ◽  
Elia Morgulev ◽  
Ronnie Lidor ◽  
Yoav Meckel
Keyword(s):  
Team Sports ◽  
Interpolation Formula ◽  
Economic Incentive ◽  
Prize Money ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Premier League ◽  
Financial Perspective ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
Individual Sports ◽  
English Premier League

BackgroundIn individual sports, the effect that injuries have on an athlete’s performance, success and financial profit is implicit. In contrast, the effect of a single player’s injury or one player’s absence in team sports is much more difficult to quantify, both from the performance perspective and the financial perspective.ObjectivesIn this study, we attempted to estimate the effect of injuries on the performance of football teams from the English Premier League (EPL), and the financial implications derived from this effect.MethodsOur analysis is based on data regarding game results, injuries and estimations of the players’ financial value for the 2012–2013 through the 2016–2017 seasons.ResultsWe found a statistically significant relationship (r=−0.46, 95% CI −0.6 to 0.28, p=0.001) between the number of days out due to injuries suffered by team members during a season and the place difference between their actual and expected finish in the EPL table (according to overall player value). Moreover, we can interpolate that approximately 136 days out due to injury causes a team the loss of one league point, and that approximately 271 days out due to injury costs a team one place in the table. This interpolation formula is used as a heuristic model, and given the relationship specified above accounts for a significant portion of the variance in league placement (21%), the remaining variance is related to other factors. Calculating the costs of wage bills and prize money, we estimate that an EPL team loses an average of £45 million sterling due to injury-related decrement in performance per season.ConclusionProfessional football clubs have a strong economic incentive to invest in injury prevention and rehabilitation programmes.

Between-seasons competitive balance in European football: review of existing and development of specially designed indices

2014 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasileios Manasis ◽  
Ioannis Ntzoufras
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
Competitive Balance ◽  
Premier League ◽  
Sport League ◽  
European Football ◽  
Using Data ◽  
English Premier League ◽  
Relative Quality

AbstractCompetitive balance is a key issue for any professional sport league substantiated by its effect on demand for league games or other associated products. This work focuses on the measurement of between-seasons competitive balance, the longest time-wise dimension, which captures the relative quality of teams across seasons. The review of the existing indices examines their applicability in the context of European football. Given that domestic championships are multi-prized tournaments, as opposed to the more common North American unitary structure with a single prize, a set of specially designed indices that capture the complex structure of European football are introduced. An empirical investigation, using data from the English Premier League, further elucidates the main features of all appropriate indices by exploring their value and trend. It may be inferred that between-seasons competitive balance in England worsens through seasons mainly due to the very low ranking mobility of the top teams through seasons.

scholarly journals Comparison of Goal Scoring Patterns in “The Big Five” European Football Leagues

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunhua Li ◽  
Yangqing Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Big Five ◽  
The Other ◽  
Valuable Addition ◽  
Premier League ◽  
Significant Pattern ◽  
Time Period ◽  
European Football ◽  
The Mean ◽  
English Premier League

The objective of the study was to compare goal scoring patterns among the “Big Five” European football leagues during the 2009/2010–2018/2019 seasons. A total of 18 pattern dimensions related to the offense pattern, the shooting situation and the scoring time period were evaluated. Kruskal–Wallis analyses revealed significant pattern differences among the five leagues. The Spanish La Liga showed a greater proportion of goals from throw-ins. The English Premier League had a higher tendency to score from corner kicks. The German Bundesliga had the greatest number of goals from counterattacks and indirect free kicks, and the Italian Serie A had the greatest proportion of penalties. Ligue 1’s scoring ability is weaker than that of the other leagues, especially Bundesliga. The Bundesliga had an overwhelming advantage in goals scored on big chances with assists, while the Premier League had an advantage in goals scored with assists that were not from big chances. However, the differences among the five leagues in the mean goals scored in the last 15 min and the goals from elaborate attacks and direct free kicks were not statistically significant. These results provide a valuable addition to the knowledge of different goal patterns of each league and allow us to better understand the differences among the leagues.

scholarly journals How the UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations affect football clubs’ priorities and leagues’ competitive balance?

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-142
Author(s):  
Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio ◽  
Giambattista Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Financial Stability ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Theoretical Description ◽  
Fair Play ◽  
Competitive Balance ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
Financial Fair Play ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
European Football

Institutional and legal reforms applied in the context of sports competitions often provoke structural changes that can be empirically investigated. Using a data set of 560 observations (20 teams per season, from 2009/10 to 2015/16, of teams playing in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1), this paper examines how the UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations may have altered the football clubs’ decisions concerning their sport and financial priorities. Moreover, based on a simple theoretical description, the paper shows that the increasing financial stability promoted by the FFP rules might actually imply – as an undesired side effect – a declined competitive balance affecting the European football leagues. Finally, the paper discusses some policy issues and recommendations.

scholarly journals Does size matter?

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 162-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Girish Ramchandani ◽  
Daniel Plumley ◽  
Harry Preston ◽  
Rob Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Competitive Balance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Premier League ◽  
European Football ◽  
Size Threshold ◽  
League Structure ◽  
Football Industry ◽  
Size Matter ◽  
English Premier League

PurposeThis paper aims to explore at what league size competitive balance reaches its best level through a longitudinal study and by using the English Premier League (EPL) as an example.Design/methodology/approachTo test the influence of league size on competitive balance in the EPL, the authors first calculated competitive balance scores for 22 seasons between 1995/96 and 2016/17 under the existing 20 team system. They then calculated a further ten normalised competitive balance scores for each EPL season by adjusting the league size to examine the league size threshold at which competitive balance in each season of the EPL was at its best level.FindingsThe analysis indicates that the current league structure of 20 teams compromises the overall level of competitive balance in the EPL in comparison with a league comprising between 10 and 19 teams. However, the authors cannot pinpoint the precise league size at which the EPL is most competitively balanced, as no significant differences were observed between the competitive balance indices for these league sizes.Originality/valueThe findings of this study have practical relevance for league organisers and the Union of European Football Associations given that they themselves have stated that competitive balance will be a big challenge for the European football industry in the coming years.

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