Competitive Balance between National Leagues in European Football after the Bosman Case
Abstract
In 1995, the Bosman case opened the labour market for players in European professional football. Ever since then, competitive balance between national leagues in European football has reduced in favour of the Big 5 leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) and recently of the oligarchic leagues of Russia and Ukraine. In this article we show that changing structures towards an open labour market in separated national product markets resulted in a decreasing competitive balance in UEFA’s European team competitions. Next to a theoretical argumentation, we provide some empirical evidence and assess future options for the structure of European professional football.
Suggested Citation
Trudo Dejonghe and Wim Van Opstal. "Competitive Balance between National Leagues in European Football after the Bosman Case" Rivista di Diritto ed Economia dello Sport 6.2 (2010): 41-61.
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