IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v100y2019i1p163-175.html

Decentralization and Football

Author

Listed:
  • Ignacio Lago
  • Carlos Lago‐Peñas
  • Santiago Lago‐Peñas

Abstract

Objectives We show that decentralization of economic and political power makes a substantial difference in football. Decentralization increases the competitive balance of domestic football leagues and creates an advantage for clubs from decentralized countries in international competitions. Methods We run pooled cross‐sectional time‐series analyses using data from 35 European countries over the period 1950–2010 and logistic regressions with data from the first 18 editions of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League. Results We find that regional autonomy boosts the competition among clubs from different regions and results in a greater competitive balance of domestic football leagues. Clubs from decentralized countries have a greater chance of winning, or at least playing in the final, than those from centralized countries. Conclusions The degree of countries’ political and economic decentralization positively increases the likelihood of winning football international trophies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ignacio Lago & Carlos Lago‐Peñas & Santiago Lago‐Peñas, 2019. "Decentralization and Football," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 100(1), pages 163-175, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:100:y:2019:i:1:p:163-175
    DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.12564
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12564
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ssqu.12564?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Juan Luis Gómez-Reino & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2013. "An international perspective on the determinants of local government fragmentation," Chapters, in: Santiago Lago-Peñas & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), The Challenge of Local Government Size, chapter 2, pages 8-54, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • H62 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Deficit; Surplus

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:100:y:2019:i:1:p:163-175. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.