Econometric Approach to Assessing the Transfer Fees and Values of Professional Football Players

Raffaele Poli, Roger Besson and Loïc Ravenel
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Raffaele Poli: Centre International d’Etude du Sport, University of Neuchatel, 2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland
Roger Besson: Centre International d’Etude du Sport, University of Neuchatel, 2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland
Loïc Ravenel: Centre International d’Etude du Sport, University of Neuchatel, 2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland

Economies, 2021, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Billions of euros are invested every year by professional football clubs for the recruitment of players. How do market actors decide prices? This paper presents an econometric model unveiling the key factors coming into play in determining fees on the transfer market for professional football (soccer) players. The statistical technique used to build the model is multiple linear regression (MLR), with fees paid by clubs as an independent variable. The sample comprises over 2000 transactions of players transferred for money from clubs in the five major European leagues during the period stretching from July 2012 to November 2021. This paper notably highlights the importance of taking into consideration the remaining duration of contracts binding players with the club to which they belong, a factor often neglected in the existing literature. It also shows that a statistical model can explain over 80% of the differences in the transfer fees paid for players. This paper reveals various applications of the approach developed for the football industry to both assess and predict football players’ transfer fees and values: transfer negotiations, club sales or purchases, bank credit, fund raising, financial planning and communication, legal disputes, etc.

Keywords: football; soccer; transfer value; transfer fees; econometric model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E F I J O Q (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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