Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP12702
Authors: Pehr-Johan Norbäck; Martin Olsson; Lars Persson
Abstract: We analyse how the Bosman ruling changed the incentives for football clubs in the European Union (EU) to develop talents. We show that the stiffer bidding competition over star players after the Bosman ruling has spurred talent development primarily in EU countries without established top clubs. This, in turn, has had a positive impact on their junior and senior national teams’ performance. However, the stiffer bidding competition has also led to a lower competitive balance in the Champions League, as non-established clubs prefer to sell their star players instead of challenging the top clubs. We provide empirical evidence consistent with these findings.
Keywords: sports industry; star players; Champions League; Bosman ruling
JEL Codes: J44; L50; L83
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Bosman ruling (Z28) | worsened competitive balance in the Champions League (Z23) |
| Bosman ruling (Z28) | improved performance of bottom EU15 countries in World Cup tournaments (O52) |
| Bosman ruling (Z28) | positive effect on youth talent development in smaller countries (Z22) |