Production, Efficiency, and Corruption in Italian Serie A Football

Abstract

This article uses data for Italian Serie A to estimate a production function for the league and the relative efficiency of the clubs playing in it. It utilizes a panel data set comprising season aggregated match statistics for 36 Serie A clubs that played over 10 seasons from 2000 to 2010. The seasons affected by the Calciopoli corruption scandal are incorporated with specific indicators in the statistical model. The results highlight the importance of attacking play in Serie A, the role played by historic success or lack of it and, more tentatively, the potential gains and also costs from fraudulent behavior.

Managing sporting success and economic efficiency in the professional football: Identification of determinant factors through the academic literature

“…Several authors have treated the management of or sporting football success (Guzmán and Morrow, 2007;Gásquez and Royuela, 2016;Pyatunin et al, 2016;Carmichael et …”

“…Sporting success is the combination of inputs, both player and non-player related (Carmichael et al, 2017). To achieve sporting success, it is necessary to take into account several attributes.…”

“…Firstly, the team, where personality characteristics as skills and talent, experience average, form, fitness, age and culture should be included (Espitia-Escuer and García-Cebrián, 2004; Wulf and Hungenberg, 2006;Yasar et al, 2015;Carmichael et al, 2017), as well as the fact of having young local club players. One of the best examples is the FC Barcelona (Murillo, 2012), club that persists in a business-related sporting model based on the talent and the training of own young local players.…”

“…Secondly, the coach, where the sporting success is primarily related with personality characteristics as experience, term of office and the age (Wulf and Hungenberg, 2006;Carmichael et al, 2017). Especially experience plays an important role, as more knowledgeable and qualified the coaches much better they can deal with the high pressure throughout the season.…”

“…First, on-field success that is primarily influenced by the team and the coach (Guzmán and Morrow, 2007;Espitia-Escuer and García-Cebrián, 2010;Carmichael et al, 2017), while off-field success depends mainly on the club management and in small part on the coach (Guzmán and Morrow, 2007).…”