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Soccernomics  By  cover art

Soccernomics

By: Simon Kuper, Stefan Szymanski
Narrated by: Colin Mace
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Publisher's summary

Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey - and Even Iraq - Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport

Why does England lose? Why does Scotland suck? Why doesn't America play the sport internationally...and why do the Germans play with such an efficient but robotic style?

Using insights and analogies from economics, statistics, psychology, and business to cast a new and entertaining light on how the game works, Soccernomics reveals the often surprisingly counterintuitive truths about soccer.

No training in economics is needed to read Soccernomics. But the listener will come away from it with a better understanding not just of soccer, but of how economists think and why they know.

©2010 Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[W]hether analyzing the relationship of spending to winning or applying game theory to the penalty kick, the authors’ delight in discovery proves both persuasive and contagious. It’s a fascinating book with the potential to effect genuine change in the sport." ( Booklist)

What listeners say about Soccernomics

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  • Overall
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting but older version of the book

This seems to be a recording of an early edition (entitled "Why England Lose"), so it doesn't include the revisions and additional chapters of more recent versions. Still, it's an interesting book, and the narrator does a great job at imitating foreign accents. Ultimately, the number-crunching may be a bit much for English majors -- those might want to wait for an audiobook version of Franklin Foer's "How Soccer Explains the World."

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5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

Very very good.

Informative and engaging, the main complaint I have with this book is that when it comes to tables and statistics, the audiobook format is just plain hard to follow. Not the fault of the authors, but while the first half of the book was great as an audiobook, I couldn't help but feel that I should pick up a hard-copy for the tables in the second half.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Informative and statistical, but…

I can’t stand hearing this performer swish his mucus around in his mouth between some sentences.

It’s like nails on a chalkboard to me. Possibly a personal pet peeve. But it made me wonder if I should have bought the paperback.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars

Great insight, however maybe not best format

The insight into the world of soccer (football/futbol) is incredible, however an audio book is probably not the best delivery for this particular type of content. There are lots of tables and hearing someone just read off a table (especially the longer ones) can get really grinding on the ears and you may lose interest quick.

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1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting but completely outdated

Way too many lists for an audiobook. Had to skip forward more than I would have liked

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1 person found this helpful

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Mostly good

It’s full of very interesting lines of thought and backed with data but it often loses the plot in that data and goes on a spreadsheet reading frenzy for 20 mins. Probably much better on paper.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting but simplified

Some of the data seems a bit simple and does not account for a lot of factors such as locations of games and competition. It was still interesting but I would say that might not be the best book to have on audio. Lots of reading of tables and data (my bad for not knowing this) that makes it a bit tedious. One chapter described a bunch of players and their originins or classifications of countries based on a bunch of parameters and it was not enjoyable to hear several minutes of someone reading numbers in a table format.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

hilarious, detailed, scientific

I like economics and soccer so this is right up my alley. the way they mix data, humor, and narrative is excellent.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Perfect for Soccer Tacticians

If you have the slightest interest in sports analytics, this is great. Full of fantastic info about WHY we see the outcomes we see in the beautiful game.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book. Great insights and analysis

wealth of data and analysis that is simply presented. very interesting points and details provided.

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