Soccernomics (2022 World Cup Edition): Why European Men and American Women Win and Billionaire Owners Are Destined to Lose Paperback – October 18, 2022

On the eve of what many professionals in the sport consider to be the most exciting World Cup final ever, starring France and Argentina in Qatar '22, Kylian Mbappe, France's goal-scoring megastar said in an interview with the press that he thought that European football was superior to South American football and that such superiority gave his team an edge in the final. "All of the recent World Cup Champions have been European", he added.Many, especially in the Latin American press, took exception to this declaration citing how 9 out of the 21 world cups to date had been won by Latin-American teams (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay). Rage ensued.And so began the Battle of Lusail Stadium, in which Argentina prevailed in what was perhaps the longest, most heart-stopping game I have ever witnessed. Yes, I am Argentinian. And thus, Kylian Mbappe was proven wrong. Or was he?Kuper and Szymanski would beg to differ, and they have the data to back it up; Western European football has many things going for it that put it a step above every other region, so there is substance to Mbappe's argument.In finding out the answer to the question above, I came to appreciate the work and intellectual diligence of the authors in crafting such an intelligent, analytical, data-driven tour of the more contentious aspects of world football. They left no stone unturned.I had read mixed reviews of the earlier versions of this one, so I put off reading it for a long time. However, the major complaints seem to have been addressed and the authors edited the offending chapters to outline where they went wrong, and duly updated their viewpoints and predictions. This is the version you want to read!For instance, they had predicted that Australia, Turkey, and Iraq would become "kings of the sport", however, the new edition explains how their insights have changed and why they believe this is no longer the case.They also explain why American women have been so dominant whereas the men have not, why football, in general, is bad business, why it is almost impossible to kill off a club, and why the figure of the monogamist football fan forever devoted to his one and only childhood team, is outdated and plain wrong.They end their work by creating a model that helps explain the long-term success of the biggest teams (and their failures), and that assists in creating a ranking for the most overachieving teams in the world, and the worst underachievers as well.It is a riot of a read if you love football. A must-read for fans of the sport. Highest possible recommendation!

I've heard much about the book and felt obliged to read it. Overall, it is half-full. Here are some of my notes:1. Authors mentioned that the first British edition was called "Why Britain loses" or something like that. It's a more accurate name for the book. Indeed, it's mainly about Britain and almost nothing outside Europe.1a. 2022 World Cup edition has no mention of Argentina at all. South American club soccer? Nothing. Messi? None.2. I needed help with structure. Say authors claim European soccer is the best in terms of technique. It's hard to argue. With a couple of anecdotes, do you expect they will develop the argument? Nope. They'd reiterate it with no added information.3. Besides the history of soccer, there's the history of the *book*. Past editions contained different predictions, some of them correct and some of them not; anyway, these developments are only mildly relevant to understanding *soccer*. The book may need a radical rewrite with all the updates merged into a single storyline.All of this is my personal opinion. If you're a Briton without ADHD, you may find it 5 stars!

Could have done without being subjected to the lectures on how men’s soccer owes women’s soccer reparations, or how the transfer system is de facto slavery perpetrated by “criminal” club owners who earn “illegal” transfer fees.At no point did these enthusiastically volunteered mini-editorials serve to bolster the authors’ data or findings; it felt as though they wanted to signal sufficient ideological purity to peers in academia or journalism who might one day pick up their book and feel inclined to cancel them.

I have never written a bad review for a book as normally, I love that they tried. Not sure what they change from the first effort as I have read both and unfortunately bought both. We do not get any deep insights from this. Yes, stats are changing soccer which is resistant. I guess, I was looking for more. As there are a lot of anecdotal stories versus what is the current ideas. Sorry guys. I wish I had enjoyed it more. Please flesh out potential points or the ingredients of work rate. I would be happy to support you. Thanks.