Financial Performance, Valuation & Regulation
Sequencing value: How football clubs enact valuation work to make talent valuable (MSc)
Tobias Frisell & Axel Nordstrand (2025)
Abstract: This thesis examines how Scandinavian football clubs perform valuation work to construct the worth of players as financial assets. Anchored in valuation studies and the concept of assetization, we conduct qualitative case studies of two clubs to explore how value is enacted through organizational practices. We find that clubs actively interpret, credential, and project player value across three temporal phases: contracting, development, and selling. This valuation work is shaped by a dual alignment - organizational alignment between sporting and financial logics, and individual alignment between players and promissory narratives of future value. By introducing a temporal lens to valuation work, we show how clubs continuously reconfigure value over time, extending static models of valuation. Our findings contribute to valuation studies by advancing a dynamic, practice-oriented understanding of how economic worth is coproduced in organizational contexts.
Private equity investments in European and Italian Football: trends and drivers of interest (MSc)
Massimo Branchi (2024)
Abstract: This paper combines two theses which offer an overview of the European and Italian football industries, respectively, from the viewpoint of a financial investor. By analyzing aggregate financial data of football clubs and by presenting the regulatory framework (UEFA Financial Fair Play and Financial Sustainability Regulations), it tries to shed some light on the drivers of interest behind private equity's recent involvement in the European and Italian football industries.
Purchasing passion: A case study on the valuation of football players in Swedish clubs (BSc)
Johan Hägerström & Martin Wahlström (2022)
Abstract: Every year, football clubs across the world spend billions of dollars combined on acquiring new players. To purchase a player from another club, a transfer fee must be paid. Putting a monetary value on a human requires significant consideration. This case study investigates the valuation process in Swedish football clubs. Similar research on the valuation process has been done in art, and a theoretical framework introduced in this setting was used when the research question was investigated. The case study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with people involved in the transfer process at Swedish clubs. The study found that the valuation process follows four steps: setting up the valuation, informing the valuation, forming a value opinion, and offering a value opinion. The first step starts with either a need or an opportunity, and both can be influenced by sporting, business, or fan logic. In the second step, information is gathered and analyzed with benchmarking and gut feeling. Thirdly, considerations are made for the factors surrounding the player. The final step focuses on how clubs use information in negotiating with other clubs. Our analysis shows that the procedures for valuing a player are more based on feeling and experience than on data analytical models. Another key finding was the existence of a third logic, fans' logic, where the will of the fans is an important consideration for clubs.
Johan Lundberg & Gustav Davidsson (2022)
Abstract: This study provides a view of the correlation between clubs' financial performance and sports performance in English football's two top leagues: the Premier League and the Championship, during 1998-2019. The football industry has experienced immense growth and increased investment interest in recent years. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether this development has affected the relationship between financial performance and sports performance, compared to previous empirical studies. We find a strong correlation between wage expenditure and sports performance for both leagues, in line with previous research. Moreover, in the Premier League, we find that profitability is positively correlated with sports performance, while wage margin is negatively correlated with sports performance. Our results further suggest that the player registration amortization margin is not significantly correlated with sports performance.
Andreas Rylander & Lucas Ternqvist (2022)
Abstract: This paper aims to contribute to the field of accounting and sports by investigating the relationship between sports performance and financial valuation in English football, using a sample of 72 football clubs in the English Premier League and the EFL Championship from 1998 to 2019. Markham's multivariate method is applied, a valuation model based on accounting metrics, to determine football clubs' approximate and comparable financial valuations for a specific year. Using regression analysis, obtained results suggest that a relationship between sports performance and financial valuation exists. In particular, an exponential relationship is established for the Premier League. In addition, the validity of Markham's multivariate method is examined by comparing it to the market capitalization of Manchester United, the only publicly listed club in English football.
Relationship between financial and sporting performance (BSc)
Hamza Ali (2020)
Abstract: During the last decades, football has evolved to become much more than rolling a ball on the football field. Football clubs all over the world have experienced an increase in revenues, wages, and player transfers. However, there have also been cases where clubs have struggled financially and affected their sporting performance. This has resulted in the need for football clubs to have a devised strategy with a focus on both the financial and sporting sides. Previous empirical studies have found evidence that there is a link between financial performance and sporting performance for clubs playing in the bigger leagues in Europe, where a club's financial conditions affect their performance on the football field. The purpose of the study is to see if previous studies' conclusions are applicable in Swedish football, where the study is designed to understand whether there is a connection between financial and sporting performance for clubs in Sweden. In line with previous research, I find strong links between financial and sporting performance, and that the financial conditions of a club play a significant role in the team's performance on the football field, even for Swedish clubs. There has been a positive relationship for variables connected to a club's staff and a negative relationship for variables dealing with change in turnover and choice of financing.
The Presence of Earnings Management After the Introduction of Financial Fair Play (BSc)
Madeleine Martinsson & Abraham Yekeku (2020)
Abstract: In this study, we investigate whether earnings management has increased since the UEFA Financial Fair Play was introduced and if there is a relationship between clubs' earnings management and their on-field performance. We use two different models to identify earnings management in a sample of football clubs playing in the Premier League during the period 2004-2017. Our findings support an increase in earnings management after the regulation was implemented and show that there is a positive relationship between clubs' performance on the field and their manipulation of earnings. These results are in line with previous research on data from other national football leagues in Europe. Our findings also contribute to the concept of earnings management in a setting where firms are not necessarily profit maximizers.
Football Player Acquisitions (BSc)
William Gjerulf & Mike Pettersson (2020)
Abstract: The previous decade has experienced a large increase in football player transfer fees, more than quadrupling for the top five European Leagues. In light of this development, our thesis examines the effect on share prices of the top four publicly listed football clubs, following the announcement of a new player purchase during the period of 2009-2019. In line with the selected top clubs´ strong brands and high investor expectations, we hypothesize that, in contrast to previous findings, the abnormal returns ought to be positive when solely investigating top-ranked clubs. By conducting an event study on 174 player purchases, we find empirical support for positive abnormal returns five days post an announcement. Complemented by a Spearman´s rank correlation test, we present strong empirical support for a positive interrelatedness between transfer fee expenditures and commercial revenues. Overall, the results indicate different outcomes when solely examining more equal clubs compared to addressing a larger sample, as in previous literature.
Predicting Financial Distress in Football (MSc)
Christoffer Gerdin & Christian Rump (2017)
Abstract: The present study successfully develops a probit model that predicts financial distress for European football clubs. The model consists of both financial variables that are common in accounting-based bankruptcy prediction models, as well as financial and non-financial variables that capture the distinct characteristics of the football industry. While it significantly outperforms decision rules in classifying clubs as distressed or surviving, it achieves a lower accuracy compared to that attained in many prominent bankruptcy prediction studies. The lower predictive accuracy can be explained by the unique conditions under which football clubs operate. The model is based on a sample of 208 European clubs in the 2006-2016 period that are mostly private or public limited companies and that play in UEFA's top divisions. Using the model at hand, stakeholders of football clubs can make better-informed and more timely decisions in their interactions with clubs.