Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339127 
Year of Publication: 
2026
Series/Report no.: 
IFN Working Paper No. 1548
Publisher: 
Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm
Abstract: 
The European football (soccer) market increasingly funnels rents to superstar players and intermediaries while weakening competitive balance. We trace this dynamic to two forces: (a) technological innovation that globalized broadcasting and magnified superstar returns, and (b) legal rulings boosting player mobility and causing bidding wars. The 2024 Diarra ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union further loosens transfer constraints and will likely intensify talent concentration at "superclubs". The result is soaring salaries and transfer fees, persistent financial fragility among non-elite clubs, and growing predictability of match outcomes. We evaluate reform options that preserve Europe's open-league tradition yet borrow from North American competitive-balance tools: greater revenue sharing, hard/soft salary caps, and draft-like mechanisms. These should be complemented by a "cartel tax" to fund youth sport, and club-governance codes plus credible financial-sustainability rules.
Subjects: 
Bosman ruling
Competitive balance
Diarra ruling
Market integration
Sports industry
Talent development
JEL: 
D33
D43
D63
J44
L50
L83
Z28
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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