In 2009, writer Simon Kuper and economist Stefan Szymanski published a book called ‘Soccernomics: Why France and Germany win, why England Is starting to and why the rest of the world loses’. Their work was hailed as being soccer’s answer to ‘Moneyball’ – a book based on the data of the game.
In the book, the two allude to the fact that statistically, the English Premier League has more transfers from Scandinavia than it does from Latin America, despite Latin American players being more widely known for their talent and skill.
The reason, according to them, is because time and experience have shown that Latin American players adapt poorly to the culture in the United Kingdom, which is a prerequisite to performing well at any EPL club.
‘Latin Americans don’t speak English, don’t like cold weather and don’t tend to understand the core traditions of English football, such as drinking twenty pints of beer in a night. Few Latin Americans adjust easily to English football,’ the authors write.
‘Instead of Latin Americans, English clubs traditionally bought Scandinavians. On average, Scandinavians are worse footballers than Latin Americans, but they are very familiar with English, cold weather and twenty pints of beer.’
The point Kuper and Szymanski set out to make is players cannot simply be seen as merchandise, and transferring players from club to club and country to country is not as simple as buying the best players and expecting them to perform.
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland. (Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Players, as obvious as it sounds, are people too and the way that they are able (or unable) to adapt to a new culture, country and climate has a statistically proven effect on their performance.
The conclusion Soccernomics came to is that in the game of soccer, what happens off the field is crucial to what happens on the field.
This month Australia and New Zealand share the privilege and responsibility of being the host nations for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
In February of this year, a lead-up tournament called The Cup of Nations was held in three different locations across New South Wales as a warmup to the main event. The six-match tournament included the national women’s teams from Spain, Jamaica, Czech Republic and New Zealand and was organised to simulate the experience of a World Cup, readying the Australian national team, the Matildas, for the real thing.
Much hype was given to how well the Matildas’ coach Tony Gustavsson had prepared his team and whether the Australian public would arise to show the support and enthusiasm this dress rehearsal was meant to encourage.
But a different drama was playing out on the other side of the world, which would eventually make itself known in ours.
Last September, fifteen players from the Spanish women’s league withdrew from selection for Spain’s national team, who are ranked sixth in the world. Their withdrawal was a deliberate decision, evidenced by the fact that the fifteen players simultaneously sent an email to the Spanish federation with identical wording explicitly stating their desire “not to be called up” for the national team until “the situation is resolved”.
Cortnee Vine celebrates a goal against Spain during the Cup of Nations. (Photo by Steve Christo – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
The ‘situation’ was not elaborated upon in the email, nor was it detailed to the media or the broader public. The way in which it was referenced in the email, however, indicates that between the Spanish federation and the league of players, the ‘situation’ was well known.
What is known publicly is that three weeks prior to sending their emails, the fifteen women – six of whom played for Barcelona, two of whom played for Manchester United, two for Manchester City, two for Atletico Madrid, two for Real Sociedad and one for Club America – had appealed to the federation’s president Luis Rubiales for change.
They wanted the head coach Jorge Vilda gone.
Speculation around Vilda being a controlling coach and having heavily contributed to a toxic environment that caused stress and anxiety among his players remains just that – speculation. Not one of the Spanish league players has come forward individually to make a formal allegation.
However, despite the fact that over half of the Spanish national team selection did complain to the federation about Vilda. The federation astoundingly backed the coach and not the players.
They released a statement that not only emphasised its lack of support for the players, but cautioned them. In its statement, the Spanish federation warned:
“The (federation) will not allow the players to question the continuity of the national coach and his coaching staff, because making those decisions does not fall within their competences.”
“…not attending a call from the selection is qualified as a very serious infraction and can lead to sanctions of between two and five years of disqualification,” it continued.
“(The federation) will not summon the players who do not want to wear the shirt of Spain. The federation will only have committed players even if they have to play with youth.”
Vilda has maintained his position as head coach of the national team and the ‘player mutiny’, as it has come to be known, continues as long this remains unchanged.
Vilda arrived in Australia for the Cup of Nations tournament with several of the most notable players missing from his squad. Star player Alexia Putellas was injured and unable to play.
Her absence, together with the absence of the team’s fifteen most senior and therefore most experienced players, did not go unnoticed. The Spanish team, as the Federation had forewarned, simply drew from its pool of younger players.
During the tournament, when asked by the Australian press about the boycott and the squad’s missing players, Vilda answered: “There’s no need to disrespect; we have a great team, and your question seems disrespectful.”
The drama around the women’s football league is not unique to the nation of Spain. Recently, the system of abuse that has existed within the American women’s soccer league was finally brought to light and those responsible brought to account. Four lifetime bans were issued to four coaches.
Countless women – most of whom have remained anonymous – had made complaints on several different tiers over months and years, including directly to their national federation.
Though the allegations ultimately resulted in fines administered to clubs and sanctions issued to those involved, many were left in shock as to how long the abuse within the league had been tolerated. The four men accused had been employed as coaches for decades by the same league that eventually banned them for life.
Matildas captain Sam Kerr. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
The Australian women’s soccer league came under fire in 2019 when former head coach Alen Stajcic was sacked after accusations that he had contributed to a culture of fear among the Matildas. Since then, however, the Australian league has not appeared to be afflicted by the same dissension between players, coaches and governing bodies that has plagued both the Spanish and American leagues.
What the authors of ‘Soccernomics’ aimed to achieve by highlighting how poorly Latin American players adjust to the EPL was just how many transfers are likely to fail because of a player’s problems off the field.
The environment, psychological health, physical security and general wellbeing have a huge impact on a player’s ability to perform. If one unhappy player makes for poor performance, then what impact might a team of unhappy players make and worse yet, an entire league of them?
As national teams from around the world begin to arrive on our shores for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, it is on us to look to our team of players with every intention of supporting them. While The Matildas are a strong team headed by captain and darling of Australian soccer Sam Kerr, it is imperative that we see beyond what they can achieve for us as athletes representing our nation.
A team may be more than the sum of its parts but a team still comprises of individual players – and those players are people, just like the rest of us.
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