Purpose This study aims to identify the current state, the emergent research clusters, the key research topics and the configuration of collaboration in scientific production related to the market value of soccer players. Design/methodology/approach This article analyzes 52 articles published between 1985 and 2021 and from the Scopus and WoS databases. Findings The subject is of growing interest both in academic and practical areas. A variable that frequently appears as a determinant of market value is crowd wisdom. The largest cluster related to the co-citation level shows that the main issues about soccer player market value are player performance, team performance, and the determinants of the superstar formation. Spain and Germany stand out as essential countries both in literary production and citation rate. The network of collaborations is still low. Research limitations/implications This study is supported by databases being constantly updated, resulting in continuous variation in the number of indexed journals. Consequently, a bibliometric analysis regarding an emergent topic can, in fewer years, be subject to essential variations. Another limitation is that it has analyzed a particular topic using the most influential databases, and the global perspective could be improved with the incorporation of other different databases. Data regarding collaborations could be helpful for investigations or policies that propose to approach the topic supported by specialized groups. This study offers the possibility for future researchers to extend the databases used, the level of analysis, or focus on specific topics or variables affecting the soccer player market value. Originality/value This study contributes to knowing the current state of the soccer player market value research. Studies on such topics are relatively limited concerning the literature review.