Soccer is called “the beautiful game” because of its simplicity and popularity; Unlike ice hockey or baseball, it can be played on a dirt pitch with nothing more than a bunch of rags. However, soccer, like any other human activity, reflects more on the people who play the game than a simple score card or trophy. Simon Kuper’s new book Soccernomics delves into the world of the most popular game on the planet to understand trends, suggest the reasons for the current global hierarchy, and suggest that the next nations become superpowers in global competition.

Kuper begins with a simple question. Football in modern parlance began as association football between British clubs and universities. A workers’ game, it lacked the “chivalrous” rules of cricket while emphasizing physical play and stamina over strategy and positioning. England therefore had an advantage of up to a century and a half over some nations, yet they only boast a single World Cup victory in the last hundred years. Why, Soccernomics asks, did the Titans fall?

The book delves into this topic. It was never a case, Kuper argues, of England underperforming but overperforming: the tiny island nation is too small to support a large talent pool, too cold to sustain a year-long game and too isolated from competitors to forge. an improvement. He explores the financial decisions English clubs make and explains their poor results over and over again.

The book also jumps to the question of soccer on the world circuit.

The economy and performance are linked throughout the text. Should the big clubs sign great players for a lot of money? Should an organization function as a business or as a model for success on the playing field? Can a franchise expect a hot player to repeat their success? Kuper often goes against conventional thinking, using rational examples of statistical trends rather than the subjectivity of fans and ownership.

Soccernomics emphasizes how different countries are prepared to blow up. Nations like England, France and Italy have a large talent pool and a history of success, yet recent conquests by what were then considered inferior soccer countries have shown that hegemony is crumbling. The rise of African countries and Asian powers like Japan and South Korea comes to mind. Such upheavals, Soccernomics claims, will surely be the norm rather than the exception in the near future of the sport.

For those who have a passion for beautiful sports, Soccernomics is a brilliant and highly informative book that is part of anyone’s collection of books or literature on soccer.

2011 Moira G Gallaga ©