Talent development and labour market integration in European football

Bibliographic Data

ID21543577
AuthorsPehr‐Johan Norbäck (0000-0003-2943-0090, Research Institute of Industrial Economics Stockholm Sweden), Martin Olsson (0000-0001-6486-1780, Research Institute of Industrial Economics Stockholm Sweden), Lars Persson (0000-0002-7416-576X, Research Institute of Industrial Economics Stockholm Sweden, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume44
Issue2
Pages367-408
Publication date2021-02-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Economy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0378-5920 • E-ISSN: 1467-9701
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/twec.13071
OpenAlexW3113037591
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited30

In this paper, we argue that altered incentives for clubs to develop star players after the Bosman ruling can explain why European football has seen lower competitive balance in the Champions League but more competitive balance at the national level. By having a profound impact on the transfers of players within the European Union (EU), the Bosman ruling led to stiffer bidding competition over football stars. We show that this spurred talent development primarily in EU countries without established top clubs having a positive impact on their junior and senior national teams' performance. However, the stiffer bidding competition also led to a lower competitive balance in the Champions League, as non‐established clubs prefer to sell their star players instead of challenging the top clubs. We provide empirical evidence consistent with these findings

Bidding · Economics · European union · Football · Incentive · International economics · League · Market economy · Microeconomics · Political science · Merger and Competition Analysis · Sports Analytics and Performance · Sports, Gender, and Society

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