Valuing a footballer

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robert Dawson on June 8, 2010 at 8:27pm

Contact the guys at the Football Fund. http://www.thefootballfund.com/

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Permalink Reply by bashir saheed adewale on June 9, 2010 at 3:12am

Thanks Robert. I have been to the referred site and left a question. I hope i would get a response soonest.

cheers!

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Permalink Reply by Himanshu Shekhar Jha on June 15, 2010 at 12:35am

Hi!

If you get your answer, plz let me know also.

Thnx

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Permalink Reply by Rachit Bedi on June 9, 2010 at 3:14am

I have laid down some points below from my knowledge as a football fan, which in my opinion drive a footballer's value. However my opinion comes strictly from my football watching experience and may not be of much relevance since I have absolutely no idea regarding quantification of the mentioned drivers:

1. Technical Skill - Specially useful for a young player looking for his first big break
2. Past performance / reputation - More useful for a seasoned player
3. Contract length - The longer the contract with the current club, the more the transfer fee
4. Age - A younger player (aged 22-23) with the same factors will always be valued higher than an older player (aged 28-29)
5. Past injury record
6. Fan following - Extremely important financial factor with regard to merchandise sale
7. Presidential elections / Player fetish - Not a prevelant factor in all cases. However, quite often the reason behind tranfer of the most expensive players. In big clubs at the time of presidential elections the candidates promise to buy a player using him as the election manifesto. Also, sum clubs have a fetich for certain players and are willing to pay much higher than the market value to satisfy their fetish (Examples - Ronaldo to Real Madrid / Fabregas' current transfer negotiations with Barcelona).

As I said above, I have absolutely no idea regarding the quantification of the above factors. from what I have seen over the years, players' valuation is more of a function of relative valuation, wherein you compare your player with the transfer fee / salary of other players.

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Permalink Reply by bashir saheed adewale on June 9, 2010 at 3:46am

Thanks fr this insight. It is helpful.

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Permalink Reply by Felix Aliu on June 14, 2010 at 3:22am

Rachit Bedi's comments are quite insightful. The challenge usually is quantifying the various factors used to evaluates a player's worth.

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Permalink Reply by Brent Wheeler on June 14, 2010 at 7:05am

Again difficult to quantify but I understand links to media are critical...

- ability to drive up ratings
- hence ability to attract sponsors
- also ability to attract highest paying advertisers
- thus fan base and audience is high
- potential impact on teams value to media

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Permalink Reply by Charles van Tongeren on June 14, 2010 at 11:06pm

I would include some value for the players non
football profile e.g. David Beckhams media
profile based on his clothes deals would make him
more valuable especially if the sponsors increased
their advertising budget

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Permalink Reply by Borut Zerjal on June 15, 2010 at 5:07am

And what about Demand on the market?

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Permalink Reply by Felistus Chisanga on June 15, 2010 at 5:09am

When looking at different options, opportunity cost can be applied in valuing a player which is the the benefits foregone by choosing that player. I agree with rachit on the comparison on the salary of other player who maybe, say an equivalent player in terms of the variables highlighted (proxy player). it can also be based on the percentage of future earnings a particular player may bring to the club. From my understanding the quantification is rather subjective as it is in most instances of Intellectual property.

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Permalink Reply by Brent Wheeler on June 15, 2010 at 5:34am

So now.... with all these suggestions.... one might assemble a matrix with variables along the top and players in rows. That way, at least this large array of variables can be put in some sort of order. We might then rank the variables from most to least important. Maybe score them in terms of importance.

There are different ways to arrange the data - but some sort of ordering and summarising seems to be called for?

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Permalink Reply by Kofi Koduah-Sarpong on June 15, 2010 at 6:09am

I agree with you on that. I think if we group the variables into Field and Off-Field variables we should be able to determine a level of significance based on the group the variable falls. I think an overall weighting of 55-60% for Field and 40-45% for Off-Field variables. The possibilities are endless.

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