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Superb World Cup 'Selection Bias' Example
For all those economics professors and tutors out there who struggle to explain the crucial concept of ‘selection bias’, a nice illustration can be found in FIFA World Cup finals ... -
Psychology Matters
Psychology matters in sport, at least in soccer. That's the unambiguous implication of a new paper by Jose Apesteguia and Ignacio Palacios-Huerta. I watch more than my fair share of European ... -
FIFA & Stadium Finance, Russian Style
Most of the commentary following FIFA's award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar has focused on the voting process, the objectives of FIFA, and potential ... -
Qatar and/or Bust
Today FIFA announced that the 2018 World Cup will be held in Russia, while the 2022 version will be held in Qatar, a country roughly the size of Connecticutt that ... -
Brazil Bleg
Bitter football enemies Argentina and Brazil (combined 7-time World Champions) square-off yet again in a friendly next Wednesday. The match is in (of all places) Doha – since the match ... -
Punish the Referee?
Another broken leg in the EPL, this time to Newcastle's Hatem Ben Arfa, and the FA is -- according to more than one press report-- likely to take action against ... -
"Give the World Cup bid a red card"
That's the title of co-blogger Dennis Coates' piece in today's LA Times. Dennis may be too proud to call attention to himself by pointing that out here, but I'm not! ... -
FIFA: Money, Control, or Both
After goals not given, diving, low scoring, reds for nothing, penalties overlooked, ... of the World Cup, arguably the strongest overall team won the event. Although not totally one-sided, Spain ... -
Not a Good Performance Evaluation
The AP headline is: "US soccer pres: We failed to meet expectations." There's not much else in the story, apart from a statement that Sunil Gulati "will likely meet with ...
