The Effects of the Bosman Ruling on National and Club Teams in Europe

2011/03/28 by John J. Binder, Murray Findlay · 1 voice · 1 citation
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Sports Analytics and Performance #Sports, Gender, and Society #Sport and Mega-Event Impacts

paper · doi:10.1177/1527002511400278

openalex publication_date 2011/03/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

The Bosman ruling and its aftermath allowed soccer players to move more freely between clubs in Europe. This study examines the performance of national and club teams in Europe before and after Bosman. Some national teams improved after the ruling while others became weaker, but the overall effects are small. At the club level, there is little evidence that the competitive balance of the domestic leagues in Europe was seriously harmed, although in the Champions League the top clubs appear to have become noticeably stronger.

Citations

• The Baseball Players' Labor Market
• THE FOOTBALL PLAYERS' LABOR MARKET: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM THE MAJOR EUROPEAN LEAGUES
• Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-spectral Methods

Cited by

• Protectionism, Competitiveness and Inequality: Cross-Country Evidence from Soccer

Discussions

• Day 19/39 Comparing European teams before and after the 1995 Bosman ruling, the authors find only small effects on national teams and league balance, though elite clubs grew stronger. Binder & Findl [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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