Simon Kuper

Stefan Szymanski

At last, football has its answer to Freakonomics, The Tipping Point and The Undercover Economist.

Soccernomics

The 2018 World Cup edition of the international bestseller and "the most intelligent book ever written about soccer" (San Francisco Chronicle) is updated throughout and features new chapters on the FIFA scandal, why Iceland wins, and women's soccer. Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Guardian, Slate, Financial Times, Independent (UK), and Bloomberg News Why doesn't the United States dominate soccer internationally? And how can it? Which is the best soccer nation on Earth? Who has the most passionate fans? What impact does soccer have on suicide rates? Which sport will dominate the Earth? NFL or the English Premier League? Why are the people who run soccer clubs so dumb? These are some of the questions every soccer fanatic has asked. Soccernomics answers them all. Written with an economist's brain and a soccer writer's skill, it applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday soccer topics, looking at data and revealing counterintuitive truths about the world's most loved game. It all adds up to a revolutionary new way of looking at soccer that could change the way the game is played.

Why England Loses; Why Germany, Spain, and France Win; and Why One Day Japan, Iraq, and the United States Will Become Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport

Soccernomics (2018 World Cup Edition)

Elda Mengisto

"Though most fans would probably deny it, a love of soccer is often intertwined with a love of numbers. There are match results, the famous dates, and the special joy of sitting in a coffee shop with your phone in the morning 'reading' the league table. Fantasy soccer leagues are, at bottom, numbers games" (6).

The premise of Soccernomics, written by journalist Simon Kuper and economist Stefan Szymanski, is to look into the statistics of soccer numbers to get a better idea on how the world's most popular sport develops. Starting at the club level, where they dispel myths about transfers and how to get the best team possible, they analyze different ways how soccer is influenced by small things such as blond hair, or larger ones like with economies.

As I read the 2018 edition of the book, I do know certain things have happened since the first version of Soccernomics was published in 2009. One thing I was especially curious was how they would approach Leicester's surprising victory, which they mentioned with the wage bills of a club. Subverting the argument that their manager, Claudio Ranieri, was an inspirational figure, they go into how their defense was strong, and how "Nobody might have noticed Leicester except for another random event: all the usual title contenders had bad seasons simultaneously. That allowed an overachieving midtable team to end up champion" (18). I thought it was an interesting take, which also took into account good players that didn't need to be motivated. However, they also note this may not happen again, because only twice before (Derby County in 1972 and Nottingham Forest in 1978) was such low spending okay as they won the top-league title.

One thing they tried to subvert was how much instinct played a role in making football decisions. A notable example is how managers would buy players out of an international tournament because they did particularly well, which would end up blowing up in their faces because managers only judged on a small set of games. They use the example of John Jensen, a Danish player who joined Arsenal and only scored one goal in his four-year interval. Other examples include how managers would begin by putting their own program in practice, despite their decreasing tenures. It's especially pointed with this quote, "Buying a big name (even if you don't need him) makes every person in the club feel bigger" (27). It was intriguing how the numbers subvert regular conceptions from behind the scenes, even though I don't always notice them.

Another thing they addressed was the paradox between how football was a terrible business to be, but they feared that it would become more successful as such. To get a winning record, teams rarely make money in pursuit of that ambition. "If one owner refused to pay large transfer fees and salaries, somebody else would, and that somebody else would get the best players and win prizes" (75). As Kuper and Szymanski argued that paying players better (or more efficiently throughout) will help them, this doesn't bode well for them. By the end of the sixth chapter, however, they conclude that "The business of soccer is soccer. Clubs shouldn't chase profits. Instead, they should invest every cent they have in the game" (120). In between is the "Crooked Business" chapter, in which they analyze the dark side of soccer, such as corruption and human trafficking towards transfers.

Their writing style is quite informative, though with certain chapters I got lost in the information. One example is with the "Why England Loses" chapter, which made the authors change the subtitle when it was first published. It starts with a hilarious cycle of how the English media portrays their failure in the World Cup. If fate had turned things the other way, "it would have deprived a nation of a ritual that marks the passing of time like Christmas or New Year's and celebrates a certain idea of England: a land of unlucky heroes that no longer rules the world, although it should" (352) They analyze different aspects of the English game, from scoring too early to being cut off from continental European football knowledge. While they paint a clear picture, they also note that it's mostly based on randomness. Though since then, England has won a penalty shoot-out and made it to the World Cup semifinals, haha! So what would this book be like for the 100th anniversary of the World Cup...

That said, I enjoyed Soccernomics; their perspective of the game goes beyond the headlines and analyzes well. I've learned a lot from it, ranging from how soccer prevents people from dying of suicide (rather than causing their deaths via their teams losing) to how connections in Europe made the strongest teams possible (and being one of only two continents to have its countries win the World Cup). We see things from a psychological, economic, and even a game theoretical perspective. Go check it out! (8/10)

Ben Marum

Coard Miller

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Named one of the “Best Books of the Year” by Guardian, Slate, Financial Times, Independent (UK), and Bloomberg News Soccernomics pioneers a new way of looking at soccer through meticulous, empirical analysis and incisive, witty commentary. The San Francisco Chronicle describes it as “the most intelligent book ever written about soccer.” This World Cup edition features new material, including a provocative examination of how soccer clubs might actually start making profits, why that's undesirable, and how soccer's never had it so good.

Why England Loses, Why Spain, Germany, and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia and Even Iraq Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport

Vince Fabella

'Soccernomics' applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday football topics. It's about looking at data in new ways, revealing counterintuitive truths about football and explaining all manner of things about the game which newspapers just can't see.

Soccernomics

Reviews