Soccernomics

'At last, football has its answer to Freakonomics' The Tipping Point and The Undercover Economist.

Football truly is the world’s favourite game, followed in over 200 countries by hundreds of millions of people pouring their hearts and souls into supporting their chosen team every week.

But behind the passion are questions that all true football aficionados want answered: has football spending spun out of control? How much do managers matter? Is hosting a World Cup a poisoned chalice?

Fully revised and updated ahead of the 2026 World Cup, Soccernomics is the revolutionary guide from an economist and a sports writer who answer all these questions and more.

Reviews

'[Kuper and Szymanski] do for soccer what Moneyball did for baseball—put the game under an analytical microscope using statistics, economics, psychology, and intuition to try to transform a dogmatic sport.' New York Times

'Since the publication of the first edition of Soccernomics there have been several attempts to copy its content. Yet few authors in the world of soccer writing can tell a human story like Simon Kuper, and even fewer academics can write an understandable narrative with numbers like Stefan Szymanski. Together the two men raise the bar again, bringing new insights to an already great body of work that is accessible and interesting to the quant and casual reader alike… . I highly recommend you pick it up for yourself, even if you have already read the first edition. You will not be disappointed.' Forbes

'Fascinating.' Vanity Fair

'With Soccernomics, the FT’s indispensable Simon Kuper and top‑flight sports economist Stefan Szymanski bring scrupulous economic analysis and statistical rigor to a sport long dependent on hoary—and, it seems, unfounded—assumptions… . Gripping and essential.' Slate, Best Books of the Year

'[Szymanski and Kuper] entertainingly demolish soccer shibboleths… . Well argued and clear‑headed.' Financial Times, Best Books of the Year

'Entertaining.' Economist

“[Kuper and Szymanski] have created a blend of Freakonomics and Fever Pitch, bringing surprising economic analysis to bear on the world's most popular sport…This mix of economic analysis and anecdote makes for a thought-provoking, often amusing read. Here, at last, is a British answer to Michael Lewis's baseball-meets-cash bestseller Moneyball.” Bloomberg News

'Soccernomics is a sporting tale in the Freakonomics mode of inquiry, using statistics to come up with fascinating conclusions.' Independent, Best Books of the Year

About the author

Simon Kuper's first book, Football Against the Enemy, won the 1994 William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize and is widely acknowledged as one of football's seminal books. Simon writes a weekly sports column in the Financial Times and has previously written football columns for The Times and the Observer.

Stefan Szymanski is Professor of Economics and MBA Dean at Cass Business School in London. Stefan has a global reputation and has acted as a consultant to government and to major sports organisations such as the FIA (motor sport), UEFA (football) and the ICC (cricket).