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Soccernomics
- Narrator
- Ashley Zhangazha
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 21 May 2026
- Run Time
- 18 hours 55 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
The classic bestseller that changed how the world thinks about football
'Quite magnificent – a sort of Freakanomics of football.' Jonathan Wilson, Guardian
'If you're a football fan, I'll save you some time: read this book' Daily Telegraph
__________
Football truly is the world’s favourite game, followed in over 200 countries by hundreds of millions of people pouring their hearts and souls into supporting their chosen team every week.
But behind the passion are questions that all true football fans want answered: has football spending spun out of control? How much do managers matter? Is hosting a World Cup a poisoned chalice?
Soccernomics challenges the conventional wisdom to reveal the surprising truths that actually determine success and failure on the pitch. From an acclaimed economist and leading sports journalist, this modern classic uses data and economic principles to explore the myths that dominate the game.
Fully revised and updated ahead of the 2026 World Cup, Soccernomics takes you behind the passion and into the patterns – revealing why your team wins, why it loses, and why the game you love doesn't always work the way you think it does.
__________
Soccernomics is essential reading for anyone in search of a more strategic, systematic perspective on the game, answering the questions that most consume football fans.
Critics Review
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'[Kuper and Szymanski] do for soccer what Moneyball did for baseball—put the game under an analytical microscope using statistics, economics, psychology, and intuition to try to transform a dogmatic sport.' New York Times
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'It's a really good book. If more people read it, they'd understand some of the reasons why England doesn't win. Everyone can have an opinion, but they back it up with stats.' Jamie Carragher
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'[Kuper and Szymanski] basically trash every cliché about football you ever held to be true. It's bravura stuff… the study of managers buying players and building a club is one you’ll feel like photocopying and sending to your team's chairman.' Metro
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'More thoughtful than most of its rivals and, by football standards, positively intellectual….Kuper, a brilliantly contrary columnist, and Szymanski, an economics professor…find plenty of fertile territory in their commendable determination to overturn the lazy preconceptions rife in football.' The Times
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'Szymanksi has recently published the best introduction to sports economics… while Kuper is probably the smartest of the new generation of super-smart sportswriters… fascinating stories.' Observer
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'Since the publication of the first edition of Soccernomics there have been several attempts to copy its content. Yet few authors in the world of soccer writing can tell a human story like Simon Kuper, and even fewer academics can write an understandable narrative with numbers like Stefan Szymanski. Together the two men raise the bar again, bringing new insights to an already great body of work that is accessible and interesting to the quant and casual reader alike… . I highly recommend you pick it up for yourself, even if you have already read the first edition. You will not be disappointed.' Forbes
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'Fascinating.' Vanity Fair
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'With Soccernomics, the FT’s indispensable Simon Kuper and top‑flight sports economist Stefan Szymanski bring scrupulous economic analysis and statistical rigor to a sport long dependent on hoary—and, it seems, unfounded—assumptions… . Gripping and essential.' Slate, Best Books of the Year
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'[Szymanski and Kuper] entertainingly demolish soccer shibboleths… . Well argued and clear‑headed.' Financial Times, Best Books of the Year
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'Entertaining.' Economist
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“[Kuper and Szymanski] have created a blend of Freakonomics and Fever Pitch, bringing surprising economic analysis to bear on the world's most popular sport…This mix of economic analysis and anecdote makes for a thought-provoking, often amusing read. Here, at last, is a British answer to Michael Lewis's baseball-meets-cash bestseller Moneyball.” Bloomberg News
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'Soccernomics is a sporting tale in the Freakonomics mode of inquiry, using statistics to come up with fascinating conclusions.' Independent, Best Books of the Year
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Simon Kuper, Stefan Szymanski
- Narrator
- Ashley Zhangazha
- Duration
- 18 hours 55 minutes
- Release Date
- 21 May 2026
- ISBN
- 9780008811761
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Association football (Soccer), Popular economics, Economics of specific sectors, International economics, Sports governing bodies, History of sport, Hospitality, sports, leisure and tourism industries, World Cups and World championships, Sports management and facilities
Synopsis
The classic bestseller that changed how the world thinks about football 'Quite magnificent – a sort of Freakanomics of football.' Jonathan Wilson, Guardian 'If you're a football fan, I'll save you some time: read this book' Daily Telegraph __________ Football truly is the world’s favourite game, followed in over 200 countries by hundreds of millions of people pouring their hearts and souls into supporting their chosen team every week. But behind the passion are questions that all true football fans want answered: has football spending spun out of control? How much do managers matter? Is hosting a World Cup a poisoned chalice? Soccernomics challenges the conventional wisdom to reveal the surprising truths that actually determine success and failure on the pitch. From an acclaimed economist and leading sports journalist, this modern classic uses data and economic principles to explore the myths that dominate the game. Fully revised and updated ahead of the 2026 World Cup, Soccernomics takes you behind the passion and into the patterns – revealing why your team wins, why it loses, and why the game you love doesn't always work the way you think it does. __________ Soccernomics is essential reading for anyone in search of a more strategic, systematic perspective on the game, answering the questions that most consume football fans.
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