Soccernomics by Stefan Szymanski, Simon Kuper (Paperback, 2012)

At last, football has its answer to Freakonomics, The Tipping Point and The Undercover Economist.\nWhy do England lose?\nWhy do Germany & Brazil Win?\nHow have Spain conquered the World?\nPenalties - what are they good for?\nWhat is the price on achieving success and the true cost of failure?\nThese are questions every football fan has asked. Soccernomics (previously published as Why England Lose) answers them. Written with an economist's brain and a football writer's skill, it applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday football topics.\nSoccernomics isn't in the first place about money. It's about looking at data in new ways. It's about revealing counterintuitive truths about football. It explains all manner of things about the game which newspapers just can't see. It all adds up to a new way of looking at football, beyond cliches about The Magic of the FA Cup , England's Shock Defeat and Newcastle's New South American Star .\nNo training in economics is needed to rea.