Performance in sports teams

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this research is twofold: to evaluate the performance of Spanish First‐Division soccer teams, comparing the sports results that they actually obtain with those that they should have obtained on the basis of their potential, and to propose a future course of action.Design/methodology/approachIn order to assess the potential of each team in the Spanish professional soccer league between the years 1998 and 2005 an output‐oriented version of Data Envelopment Analysis is used. In this way it is possible to calculate the number of points a team could have achieved with an efficient use of its actual resources and, consequently, its potential position in the league classification.FindingsThe main conclusion is that a team's final league position depends more on its efficient use of resources than on its potential.Practical implicationsFrom the practical perspective, the results seem to stress that measures directed at improving soccer teams' results should focus on improving their efficient use of available resources. Consequently, this work provides a preliminary result, obtained using economics tools, that suggests where soccer team managers might direct their efforts to improve their sports results.Originality/valueThe present work is based on the same concept of potential in sports teams as Zak et al. (1979) and Hofler and Payne (1997), but with a number of differences compared with the earlier studies. First, the potential of the teams and their actual results are compared not by assessing their efficiency in the use of resources, but by observing their final league table positions. Second, the technique which is used to estimate the frontier is in this case Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), or the deterministic non‐parametric frontier method, which has not often been used in order to measure efficiency in soccer. Finally, the object of study is the Spanish First Division soccer teams in the seasons 1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2000/2001, 2001/2002, 2002/2003, 2003/2004 and 2004/2005.

Are football managers as efficient as coaches? Performance analysis withex anteandex postinputs in the Premier league

“…: Frick and Simmons, 2008;Lee and Berri, 2008;and del Corral, 2012) and the non-parametric methodology most used is data envelopment analysis (DEA) (e.g. : Espitia-Escuer and García-Cebrián, 2006;Guzmán and Morrow, 2007;and Tiedemann et al, 2011).…”

“…The variable return to scale (VRS) model proposed by Banker et al (1984) was employed because the EPL clubs have different sizes. Moreover, the models were oriented to output maximization (Espitia-Escuer and García-Cebrián, 2006;Zambom-Ferraresi et al, 2016). The formal expression of the model is:…”

“…Finally, other stream has analysed the second stage of the production process with inputs (Z), i.e. the play performed during the game, as resources to produce the output (Y) (Espitia-Escuer and García-Cebrián, 2006;Boscá et al, 2009;Zambom-Ferraresi et al, 2015, etc. ).…”

“…the players' skills and abilities. The ex-post inputs in sports economics literature used to be: sports statistics, e.g., shots, in soccer; rebounds, in basketball; batting, in baseball (Carmichael et al, 2000;Sexton and Lewis, 2003;Espitia-Escuer and García-Cebrián, 2006;Boscá et al, 2009;Tiedemann et al, 2011;Moreno and Lozano, 2012;and Zambom-Ferraresi et al, 2015); or wages/salaries (Haas, 2003;Frick and Simmons, 2008;Ribeiro and Lima, 2012). These ex-post inputs are employed to analyse the second stage of PF where intermediate inputs (Z) produced output (Y).…”

“…On the one hand, several works use ex-post input measures (e.g. game-related statistics) to analyse the performance in sports (Carmichael et al, 2000;Espitia-Escuer and García-Cebrián, 2006;Guzmán and Morrow, 2007;Zambom-Ferraresi et al, 2015). On the other hand, some authors assert (Lee, 2006;and Lee and Berri, 2008) that the only way to analyse the performance of football clubs must be done through ex-ante inputs that measured the players' skills and abilities before the start of the season; such as players' market value (Dawson et al, 2000;Lee and Berri, 2008;del Corral et al, 2015).…”