Levelling the playing field: concentration and competitive inequality in professional football according to the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index

The economics of sport has been a field concerned with examining the sporting asymmetries that generate hegemony and the concentration of national titles among a small number of soccer clubs across different leagues worldwide, particularly those with greater media, economic, and financial impact. This study aims to measure the concept of hegemony in sport, understood as the inequalities within the game that may lead to the concentration of titles and trophies among a limited number of soccer teams in Western European and South American leagues. The study employs a critical discourse analysis of data, examining how quantitative and qualitative evidence is embedded within broader power relations in society. In this context, the interpretation of the data is linked to the influence of foreign investment funds, wealthy family ownership structures, and the role of supporters in football governance. A sample of 23 seasons is analyzed, identifying the clubs that have most frequently won national championships. The results and conclusions suggest that competitive inequality in professional soccer during the twenty-first century is more pronounced and structurally entrenched in Western Europe (HHI = 0.357, very high structural dominance) than in South America (HHI = 0.182, moderate concentration), reflecting divergent governance models, ownership structures, and redistributive mechanisms across leagues.