Summary of Money and Soccer

Looking for the book?
We have the summary! Get the key insights in just 10 minutes.

Money and Soccer book summary
Start getting smarter:
or see our plans
12 Read later Add to

Rating

7 Overall

6 Importance

8 Innovation

7 Style

Recommendation

Each year, the same soccer teams win their league championships, and many soccer clubs operate in the red. Fans fret about the future of their beloved sport. How can soccer survive if most teams can’t pay their bills and never win? Sports economist Stefan Szymanski argues that soccer has a brilliant future. An amateur sports historian, he has assembled and analyzed business data on professional soccer since the 1980s. He examines the business of soccer and discusses how the fiscal realities affect the clubs, the players, the owners, the stadiums and everything else. He also details how 19th-century Britain shaped modern-day soccer. His bottom-line message is that soccer is in great shape today, and will be in better shape in the future. getAbstract recommends Szymanski’s in-depth analysis to soccer fans around the globe, and to anyone interested in how professional sports make and lose money.

In this summary, you will learn

  • What factors define professional soccer today,
  • Why the richest teams dominate,
  • Why half of soccer clubs suffer financial distress,
  • How the promotion-and-relegation system functions and
  • How “Financial Fair Play” works.
 

About the Author

Co-author of the bestseller Soccernomics, Stefan Szymanski is the Stephen J. Galetti professor of sport management at the University of Michigan.

 

Summary

No Economic Downturn
When the global economic catastrophe decimated financial markets in 2008 – Europe’s most serious economic crisis since World War II – many thought the recession would cripple professional soccer. According to Michel Platini, president of the Union of European Football...

More on this topic

By the same author

A Pragmatic Proposal for FIFA Reform
A Pragmatic Proposal for FIFA Reform
8
National Pastime
National Pastime
8

Customers who read this summary also read

Players
Players
8
Risk Leadership
Risk Leadership
8
Productive Failure
Productive Failure
7
Disruptive Innovation Turning Industries Upside Down
Disruptive Innovation Turning Industries Upside Down
7
Why We Choke Under Pressure – and How to Avoid It
Why We Choke Under Pressure – and How to Avoid It
8
Opportunities Amid Disorder
Opportunities Amid Disorder
7

Related Channels

Branding

Comment on this summary

  • Avatar
    Sign in to share your opinion
  • Avatar
    Nick Allen 1 month ago
    Interesting - piece that jumps out at me is the suggestion that the elite clubs creating their own would be good for soccer. Personally i feel it would be the opposite, creating a disengagement with the regular football fan, but would benefit the "tourist supporter". Being involved in lower league football personally, i think it would have a detrimental effect, further widening the gap no only in the elitism of football, but widen the gap between the fan and the sport.