Simon Kuper

“The theory of the “wisdom of crowds” says that if you aggregate many different opinions from a diverse group of people, you…

— Simon Kuper

Even before 2007, this half of a small island was the richest football country on earth. In 2005-2006 the Premiership's total revenue…

— Simon Kuper

“It’s sad to say, but it is much easier selling, for example, a crap Brazilian than a brilliant Mexican. The Brazilian gets…

— Simon Kuper

“Entrepreneurs who dip into soccer also keep making the same mistakes. They buy clubs promising to run them “like a business” and…

— Simon Kuper

Football is not merely a small business, it's also a bad one. Anyone who spends any time inside football soon discovers that…

— Simon Kuper

Chelsea's players, coaches and agents are now football's wealthiest millionaires. Surely the billions taken from the Russian people by an oligarch in…

— Simon Kuper

It seems that soccer tournaments create those relationships: people gathered together in pubs and living rooms, a whole country suddenly caring about…

— Simon Kuper

“Aulas spotted early that most soccer fans everywhere are much more like shoppers than like religious believers: if they can get a…

— Simon Kuper

“Apparently the Germans had a database of 13,000 kicks.”

— Simon Kuper

“you are brought face to face with the great question about the soccer coach: Does he really matter? It turns out that…

— Simon Kuper

“The club is not a business. It's a populist democracy.”

— Simon Kuper

“Stars of Recent World Cups, or European Championships Are Overvalued The worst time to buy a player is in the summer when…

— Simon Kuper

“Because soccer clubs are the only businesses that get daily publicity without trying to, they treat journalists as humble supplicants instead of…

— Simon Kuper

“You don't have to be charming to be a fan among fans.”

— Simon Kuper

Other than sports, only war and catastrophe can create this sort of national unity.

— Simon Kuper

“The wisdom of crowds fails when the components of the crowd are not diverse enough.”

— Simon Kuper

I remember World Cups in 1982 and 1986 when we weren't there and we'd support Belgium or Denmark, .. They had some…

— Simon Kuper

“the Finnish financial analyst Matias Möttölä calculates that in terms of revenue, Real Madrid would still only be the 120th largest company…

— Simon Kuper

You'd never last in South America. Fans take their radios to the stadium so they can think what the commentators think.

— Simon Kuper

“The things we once thought of as luxuries soon become necessities (although, by the same token, our sense of well-being would quickly…

— Simon Kuper

“Clubs are all about winning. National teams, however, have an additional function: to incarnate the nation.”

— Simon Kuper

“Though most fans would probably deny it, a love of soccer is often intertwined with a love of numbers. There are the…

— Simon Kuper

Whereas fanatic is usually a pejorative word, a Fan is someone who has roots somewhere.

— Simon Kuper

“Arsenal hasn’t been a great soccer club lately, but it has been a good business. This is what a soccer club run…

— Simon Kuper

“in business doing nothing is often the hardest thing. (And not just in business. Harold Macmillan, prime minister during the Cuban missile…

— Simon Kuper