Performance Evaluation in the UEFA Champions League

Abstract

This paper aims to evaluate the performance of the most significant football teams in Europe. In particular, we have selected all the teams who have participated in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) during the last nine seasons (2004/05 to 2012/13): 94 different clubs in total. We have applied the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a deterministic non-parametric frontier method usually developed in efficiency studies. To solve the problem of measuring sporting results as output in knockout competitions we have proposed the use of the coefficients applied by UEFA from UCL revenue distribution. As far as we know it is the first time that it is analysed efficiency in UCL considering a long period of time and applying revenue distribution as sporting results measurement. These differences from previous studies let us to obtain some interesting results. Firstly, there is a high inefficiency level in UCL on the studied period: only the 9% of the teams seem to be efficient. Also, the teams have many problems to maintain their efficiency during the seasons. Secondly, the champion always is efficient. Thirdly, we have identified two inefficiency sources: waste of sport resources and the selection of sport tactics. Finally, from a methodological perspective, the output measure proposed seems to be suitable to represent reliably the sports results archived by clubs in this qualifying competition type. Some management implications have been suggested to boost efficiency in inefficient clubs. In some cases, clubs might employ better their resources. In other cases, changing tactics is the best solution.

Do Italians Really Do It Better? Evidence of Migrant Pay Disparities in the Top Italian Football League

“…() argued that the performance of a player may be affected by the level of efficiency of the club employing him. The authors showed that, within the UEFA Champions League, clubs often hamper a player achieving his full potential, or choose inappropriate sports tactics (Zambom‐Ferraresi et al ., ). Again at the team level, McNamara et al .…”

“…Several studies have illustrated how a player's performance may be affected by team-level factors. For example, Zambom-Ferraresi et al (2017) argued that the performance of a player may be affected by the level of efficiency of the club employing him. The authors showed that, within the UEFA Champions League, clubs often hamper a player achieving his full potential, or choose inappropriate sports tactics (Zambom-Ferraresi et al, 2017).…”

“…For example, Zambom-Ferraresi et al (2017) argued that the performance of a player may be affected by the level of efficiency of the club employing him. The authors showed that, within the UEFA Champions League, clubs often hamper a player achieving his full potential, or choose inappropriate sports tactics (Zambom-Ferraresi et al, 2017). Again at the team level, McNamara et al (2013: 475) used a business model to analyse clubs playing in the English Premier League and showed that 'alternative modelsbased on the acquisition of talent on one dimension and the internal development of shared team experience on the otherlead to differing value creation and value capture outcomes'.…”

Efficiency in European football teams using WindowDEA: analysis and evolution

“…Concerning supranational competitions, the UEFA Champions League is the world's top competition at football club level, and efficiency studies are really scarce in this area (as examples we can find García-Cebrián, 2010, andZambom-Ferraresi, García-Cebrián, Lera-López, &Iráizoz, 2017). The fact that the sample comprises an unbalanced panel data set and the limited availability of data could be some reasons for this shortage.…”

Is Efficient to Play in First Division? Influence of Promotion and Relegation in the Technical Efficiency of the Spanish Professional Football Teams

“…They take the following as outputs: wins, goals scored, points won, position achieved in the Spanish league competition, points not won out of the total possible points. The inputs used are those related to the performances of the players in different tasks or tasks inherent to the individual and collective ability, fitness and experience of the players [8,24]: shots at a goal, minutes of possession, recoveries of the ball made, crosses made into the area of the opposition [28], and other technical elements of the game. Other studies use economic-financial information and they take the following as inputs and outputs: the cost of the primary resource (players) or depreciation charges as a supposed measure of the abilities of the players to achieve sporting performance; the influence of these and other costs on total revenue; wages and transfer spending and sales [29]; personnel costs [30] or net profit [31].…”