Measuring football clubs' human capital: analytical and dynamic models based on footballers' life cycles

Abstract

Purpose

This research proposes analytical valuation models throughout football players' life cycles based on crowd valuations from social media to produce dynamic sporting human capital disclosures, and therefore, supplying further useful information to capture the intellectual capital (IC) of football clubs.

Design/methodology/approach

This work is carried out using an econometric model that includes 658 observations of crowd judgments versus their transfer fees, for the best footballers of the three major European Leagues between 2006 and 2018. To make the model more parsimonious, the set of independent variables that really add value has been found across the stepwise methodology.

Findings

The significant differences between both models are analyzed, integrating previous academic literature based on the existence of negotiation elements in prices, and in the capacity of crowdsourcing to explain assessments of football players, from a dynamic perspective, alongside a new variable: injuries, which has not been explained before.

Originality/value

The broader assessments from crowdsourcing should be integrated in intellectual capital disclosures (ICD), from a critical, novel and dynamic perspective, creating a virtuous cycle between managers and fans, to increase transparency of financial information for stakeholders and society.

Citation

Rubio Martín, G., Manuel García, C.M., Rodríguez-López, Á. and Gonzalez Sanchez, F.J. (2022), "Measuring football clubs' human capital: analytical and dynamic models based on footballers' life cycles", Journal of Intellectual Capital, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 1107-1137. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-06-2020-0211