Soccernomics

By: Simon Kuper, Stefan Szymanski

Narrated by: Colin Mace

Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey - and Even Iraq - Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport

Why does England lose? Why does Scotland suck? Why doesn't America play the sport internationally...and why do the Germans play with such an efficient but robotic style?

Using insights and analogies from economics, statistics, psychology, and business to cast a new and entertaining light on how the game works, Soccernomics reveals the often surprisingly counterintuitive truths about soccer.

No training in economics is needed to read Soccernomics. But the listener will come away from it with a better understanding not just of soccer, but of how economists think and why they know.

©2010 Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[W]hether analyzing the relationship of spending to winning or applying game theory to the penalty kick, the authors’ delight in discovery proves both persuasive and contagious. It’s a fascinating book with the potential to effect genuine change in the sport." ( Booklist)

great study on soccer, definitely worth a listen

loved the book overall, but having to listen to long statistical tables was painful, that didn't translate very well.

Perfect for Soccer Tacticians

If you have the slightest interest in sports analytics, this is great. Full of fantastic info about WHY we see the outcomes we see in the beautiful game.

Freakonomics but for football!

Very interesting book which I would recommend to any football lover. It has that Freakonomics vibe to it, searching for underlying reasons for the success or failure of specific countries or teams. Interesting and funny, it was a very easy audiobook to go through. BUT, those tables which the narrator goes through are completely useless as halfway through them you just hope he stops reading and go on with the conclusions. The other minor problem is that the information is slightly outdated but this still remains a very interesting listen.

Now, this IS a book!!!

Great book. This book will really open your mind onto Football! You'll be able to think about the factors in football and also will teach you how to handle the transfer market and the incorporation of new figures to the club.

Wish the tables were available via additional download.

Great book. Wish I could look at a visual copy of some of their data tables. It's difficult to visualize the data as they go through. Thankfully they summarize the data at the end of reading through each table.

hilarious, detailed, scientific

I like economics and soccer so this is right up my alley. the way they mix data, humor, and narrative is excellent.

A Book for all Football Fans

What did you love best about Soccernomics?

The book explains the details about football that aren't covered by the media. Good book and narrator.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

some examples given out through the book are outdated, but still very interesting if we were still back in 2008

What about Colin Mace’s performance did you like?

The way he imitates football personalities around the globe is pretty funny and accurate.

Interesting but simplified

Some of the data seems a bit simple and does not account for a lot of factors such as locations of games and competition. It was still interesting but I would say that might not be the best book to have on audio. Lots of reading of tables and data (my bad for not knowing this) that makes it a bit tedious. One chapter described a bunch of players and their originins or classifications of countries based on a bunch of parameters and it was not enjoyable to hear several minutes of someone reading numbers in a table format.

Interesting but completely outdated

Way too many lists for an audiobook. Had to skip forward more than I would have liked

Fascinating for soccer fans looking for details

Szymanski and Kuper blend wit and expertise in laying out why England isn't a world beater (anymore) and kept my interest throughout. A tremendous job by Colin Mace. I appreciated his efforts to sound like a Dutchman, American, et al. Only knock was on all the readings of the tables, though I've run into the same dilemma as I've narrated non-fiction before.