Soccernomics. Simon Kuper

      

COPYRIGHT

      HarperCollinsPublishers

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      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published by HarperCollinsPublishers as Why England Lose in 2009

      This revised and updated edition published 2018

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      © Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018

      Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

      A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

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      Source ISBN: 9780008236649

      Ebook Edition © May 2018 ISBN: 9780007466887

      Version: 2018-05-15

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      CONTENTS

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

1 Driving with a Dashboard: In Search of New Truths about Football

PART I: THE CLUBS: RACISM, STUPIDITY, BAD TRANSFERS, CAPITAL CITIES, THE LEICESTER FAIRY TALE AND WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THAT PENALTY SHOOT-OUT IN MOSCOW

2 Gentlemen Prefer Blonds: How to Avoid Silly Mistakes in the Transfer Market

3 The Worst Business in the World: Why Football Clubs Haven’t Made Money

4 Safer than the Bank of England: Why Football Clubs Almost Never Disappear

5 Crooked Business: Football’s Corruption and the History of Tech

       6 A Decent Business at Last? Be Careful What You Wish For

       7 Need Not Apply: Does Football Discriminate Against Black People?

       8 Do Coaches Matter? The Cult of the White Manager

       9 The Secret of Claude Makelele: How ‘Match Data’ Are Changing the Game on the Pitch

       10 The Economist’s Fear of the Penalty Kick: Are Penalties Cosmically Unfair, or Only if You Are Nicolas Anelka?

       11 The Suburban Newsagent’s: City Sizes and Football Prizes

       12 Unfair and Unbalanced: Do We Need More Leicesters?

       PART II: THE FANS: LOYALTY, SUICIDES AND HAPPINESS

       13 Are Football Fans Polygamists? A Critique of the Nick Hornby Model of Fandom

       14 Fans’ Suicide Notes: Do People Jump off Buildings when Their Teams Lose?

       15 Happiness: Why Hosting a World Cup Is Good for You

       PART III: COUNTRIES: RICH AND POOR, TOM THUMB, ENGLAND, SPAIN, PALESTINE AND THE CHAMPIONS OF THE FUTURE

       16 The Curse of Poverty: Why Poor Countries Are Poor at Sport

       17 Why England Lose and Other Europeans Win

       18 Made in Amsterdam: The Rise of Spain and the Triumph of European Knowledge Networks

       19 Tom Thumb: The Best Little Football Country on Earth

       20 Core to Periphery: The Future Map of Global Football

       21 The Future: The Best of Times – and the Smartphone

       Footnotes

       Acknowledgements

       Select Bibliography

       Index

       About the Publisher

       DRIVING WITH A DASHBOARD: IN SEARCH OF NEW TRUTHS ABOUT FOOTBALL

      A few years