Author: Simon Kuper and Stefan Syzmanksi
Title: Soccernomics : why England loses, why Germany and Brazil win, and why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey and even India are destined to become the kings of the world’s most popular sport
Publication Info: New York : Nation Books, c2009.
ISBN: 9781568584256
Also by the same author: Football Against the Enemy
Summary/Review: A soccer writer and an economist bring a sabermetrics/Freakonomics approach to global soccer. Issues covered include:
- That England based on their experience, population, and other demographics they are actually not underachievers but win more often than they should. The authors also give some tips on how England can improve (like not playing in the physically taxing Premier League).
- Why soccer clubs are bad businesses and should not be run as a business.
- Secrets of the transfer market, such as the wisdom of crowds, buy players in their early 20s, sell whenever another club offers more than he’s worth, and help players to relocate and adjust to their new culture. Olympique Lyonnais is the Moneyball club of Europe winning French titles using unconventional techniques.
- Fans are analyzed with the devoted Nick Hornby-type fan proving a rarity (not so surprising) and the world’s most soccer-mad fans are in an unexpected nation.
- Rankings of the most overperforming and underperforming soccer nations in the world and a glimpse at the future world soccer order.
It’s a fun book with a lot of analysis that seems to be based on hard data – although I sometimes wonder if it’s relevant data – but I can’t quibble too much with the results.
Recommended books: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt, Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby and How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer.
Rating: ***
Panorama of the Mountains 