The Financial Situation of Polish Premier Division Soccer Clubs in Terms of the DEA Method

• Main Author: Artur Wyszyński
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Collegium of Economic Analysis, SGH Warsaw School of Economics 2017-04-01
• Series: Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics
• Subjects: technical efficiency; soccer clubs; data envelopment analysis (dea)
• Online Access: http://www.journalssystem.com/gna/Sytuacja-finansowa-klubow-Ekstraklasy-w-ujeciu-metody-DEA,100742,0,2.html
• ISSN: 0867-0005; 2300-5238

The aim of this article is to determine the financial standing of Polish Ekstraklasa premier-division soccer clubs. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model is applied to study technical efficiency ratios based on financial ratios describing the clubs’ financial condition. Statistical and econometric analyses were carried out in order to assess the relationship between performance indicators and the financial situation of the clubs, specifically their liquidity, profitability and debt. This study shows that there is a strong relationship between the condition and efficiency of the clubs. This finding was confirmed by the results of an analysis of the effectiveness of clubs as well as regression analysis. The clubs are classified into two groups: effective and ineffective. Highly effective clubs are in a significantly better financial position than ineffective ones. The current liquidity ratio was the best discriminator separating the clubs into the two groups and having the greatest impact on their growing effectiveness as the three basic financial indicators were analyzed. The impact of the two other indicators, profitability and debt, was much smaller. The discriminant function results were used to determine the financial standing of Ekstraklasa clubs in the 2014/2015 season.