Key factors in the sporting and financial success of professional first division football clubs in Spain

This article focuses on identifying the sporting and financial variables that explain success both on the field and in the economic management of football teams. This is a relevant topic because modern football has become a multimillion-dollar business, and understanding the keys to success is essential not only for improving sporting performance but also for ensuring the financial stability of clubs. To simplify the multitude of variables that can affect both sporting and financial performance, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used. This method reduces the complexity of the data to just two key factors: the size of the club (measured by variables such as revenue, personnel costs, and market value) and financial performance (based on the Z-score credit evaluation model by Amat & others, 2017, and reflects a synthesis of indicators such as liquidity, debt, and profitability). These two factors are considered the most representative variables for understanding club success. Once these two factors are identified, a regression model is applied to see how size and financial performance influence sporting success, measured by points obtained in the competition. The analysis shows that the size of the club has a significant relationship with sporting success. In other words, clubs with higher revenue, investment in transfers, and a more valuable squad tend to achieve better results in terms of points. On the other hand, financial performance, while important for the club's economic health, is not a determining factor for short-term sporting success. The study also categorizes clubs into four types: those that achieve both sporting and financial success, those that excel in the sporting arena but have poor financial performance, those with financial success but not sporting success, and those that do not achieve good results either on the field or in economic management. This approach allows for the identification of patterns and trends in the relationship between sporting and financial success, providing a useful tool for analyzing football clubs and their management strategies.