Why do England lose? Why does Scotland suck? Why doesn't America dominate the sport internationally...and why do the Germans play with such an efficient but robotic style? 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.

Written with an economist's brain and a soccer writer's skill, Soccernomics applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday soccer topics Soccernomics is a revolutionary new way of looking at soccer that has helped to change the way the sport is played. This World Cup edition features ample new material, including a chapter on women’s soccer that makes a case for reparations, an analysis of the pandemic’s impact on soccer finances, and insights into the failed plan to create a European Super League. Soccernomics remains essential reading for anyone in search of a more strategic, systematic perspective on the game, answering the questions that most consume soccer fans.

FOOTBALL (SOCCER, ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL). Written with an economist's brain and a football writer's skill, this book applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday football topics. Why England Lose isn't in the first place about money. It's about looking at data in new ways. It's about revealing counterintuitive truths about football. It explains all manner of things about the game which newspapers just can't see. It all adds up to a new way of looking at football, beyond cliches about "The Magic of the FA Cup", "England's Shock Defeat" and "Newcastle's New South American Star". No training in economics is needed to read Why England Lose. But the reader will come out of it with a better understanding not just of football, but of how economists think and what they know.

Written with an economist's brain and a soccer writer's skill, Soccernomics applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday soccer topics Soccernomics is a revolutionary new way of looking at soccer that has helped to change the way the sport is played. This World Cup edition features ample new material, including a chapter on women’s soccer that makes a case for reparations, an analysis of the pandemic’s impact on soccer finances, and insights into the failed plan to create a European Super League. Soccernomics remains essential reading for anyone in search of a more strategic, systematic perspective on the game, answering the questions that most consume soccer fans.

'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.

‘Magnificent... Freakonomics for football’ – Guardian

Every four years, when the World Cup rolls around, the internet yells at the US that "it's football, not soccer." This short and light-hearted book lays out the contours of the debate, delves into the history of the word "football" and the emergence of the word "soccer," explores some 20th century data on the distribution of the two words and the surprisingly recent origin of the great schism, tells you about all the words the world actually uses to describe the game, gives you a glimpse of the convoluted fate of the word soccer in Australia, and tries to make sense of it all. Stefan Szymanski, co-author of "Soccernomics," is a sports economist who teaches sport management at the University of Michigan. Silke-Maria Weineck, author of "The Tragedy of Fatherhood," teaches German Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan.