A comparative study of the competitive balance of the Spanish and English top football leagues on the basis of sport performance during the four last seasons before the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The topic of this study has been the examination and comparison of the competitive balance of the Spanish and the English first leagues of soccer, called La Liga Santander and Barclays Premier League. The basis for the research project has been provided by a database of sixteen hundred elements, containing the data of the two leagues starting from the 2014/2015 season up to the 2017/2018 season. When choosing the time period for the study, we intended to avoid having to deal with the impact of Covid-19, which is why we picked exactly these competition seasons. We have primarily used statistical indicators. In the case of sports-related data, our inquiries have included the following: comparing and averaging the winning percentages per season, furthermore, the winning percentages of championship seasons, the distribution of goals scored and conceded and, finally, the calculation of the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. Although there is one aspect of investigation according to which the competition balance of La Liga is closer to the optimal, the dispersion of winning percentages and the indicator of the goals conceded as well as the HHI index show that the Premier League is the more balanced competition of the two.