The relation between football clubs and economic growth: the case of developed countries

Abstract

It is believed that societies use sports as a tool for their social and cultural development. In particular, developed countries have embraced sports as part of their lives and have ranked it as a source of economic growth. The increase in sports consumption and industries can contribute to economic growth, and economic growth can have a positive impact on sports industries vice versa. The wavelet methodology is a way to discover the relationship between sports and economic growth by examining frequency and time domain aspects and identifying shorter to longer-term relationships continuously. The industrial production of different countries has experienced short and medium-term cycles around the year 2020. In contrast, the values of football clubs in these countries have shown minimal fluctuations, despite the emergence of some areas with slight significance. The cross wavelet analysis asserted the significance relation revealed after the covid 19 restrictions, both in shorter and longer periods. The wavelet coherence analysis showed that co-movement was observed in short-term cycles in countries across the periods while long-term co-movements are observed only in only in small areas or generally out of cone of influence.