Summary of Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski's Soccernomics

By IRB Media

Get the Summary of Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski's Soccernomics: 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 ... the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book.Original book introduction: These are questions every soccer aficionado has asked. Soccernomics answers them.

Using insights and analogies from economics, statistics, psychology, and business to cast a new and entertaining light on how the game works, Soccernomics reveals the often surprisingly counterintuitive truths about soccer. An essential guide for the 2010 World Cup, Soccernomics is a new way of looking at the world's most popular game.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Nov 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638157151

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

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Insights on Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski's Soccernomics

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

In 1983, Italian club AC Milan paid $1. 4 million to acquire the services of black midfielder John Barnes from Watford.

#2

However, the vast majority of money spent on transfers is wasted, as the amount that any club spends on transfers has little relation to their final position in the league. Wages, on the other hand, are extremely telling. Wages explain a whopping 92 percent of a team’s league position over a long period of time.

#3

The market for players’ wages is pretty efficient, as better players attract higher wages. But the transfer market is inefficient, as clubs often overpay for players who turn out to be not as good as expected.

#4

Benitez spent a lot of money on transfers, but most of his acquisitions were not of true Liverpool quality. Only two, Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina, were truly world-class.

#5

The most efficient way for a soccer club to spend its money is to make fewer transfers, which allows the team to keep its best players. However, most soccer clubs continue to make many transfers, which eventually degrades their performance.

#6

The fourth master of the transfer market is Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team.

#7

Tottenham is a good example of how a new manager will typically buy his own players, and then have to sell ones that his predecessor bought at a discount. This is especially true in soccer, where a new manager has no control over the team’s expenditures.

#8

The worst time to buy a player is in the summer, when he just finished a good tournament. Everyone has seen how good the player is, but he may be exhausted and sated with success.

#9

Real Madrid is a prime example of a club that frequently makes big signings just to show off. The purpose of these transfers is not to obtain the best players at the lowest possible price, but to make fans happy and keep them interested during the summer break.

#10

Clubs will pay more for players from fashionable countries. The most fashionable nationality in the transfer market is Brazilian.

#11

The availability heuristic is the tendency to judge a situation by what is most available to you at the time. For example, in scouting, scouts are likely to judge a player by his appearance, which leads to the overvaluing of blonds.

#12

The relationship between Clough and Taylor at Nottingham Forest is the closest thing we have to a handbook on how to manipulate the transfer market.

#13

Despite all the success that Forest had, the team was essentially built on the cheap. The team’s success was all about their ability to spot and purchase undervalued players.

#14

The job of the manager is to get the best possible price for his players, before someone else does. Managers have to be able to spot when a player