Market Integration, Soccer, and the EU: Changes in the Game’s Core Territories

Abstract

This paper uses soccer as a lens to look at governance structures and how they affect labor markets and economic outcomes in major European countries. It looks at three different models of soccer governance: “coordinated,” “liberal,” and “neutral,” found in the five major European soccer leagues (England, Germany, Spain, Italy, and France) and suggests that coordinated structures may have a comparative advantage over liberal structures.