Stefan Szymanski
Stefan Szymanski is a sports economist and professor of sport management at the University of Michigan, where he holds the Stephen J. Galetti Collegiate Professorship in the School of Kinesiology. He has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and written ten books, including the international bestseller Soccernomics, co-authored with Simon Kuper. His research applies economic analysis to questions of club finance, competitive balance, and performance strategy in professional soccer.
Szymanski studied politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford before completing graduate work at the London Business School, where his focus on markets and industrial competition first drew him to professional soccer as a subject of serious study. His work has influenced how some of the world's leading clubs think about recruitment, investment, and on-field performance. The Michigan Daily
Education
Ph.D., Economics, Birkbeck College, University of London, 1988
M.Sc., Economics (Distinction), Birkbeck College, University of London, 1985
B.A., Politics, Philosophy and Economics, Hertford College, University of Oxford, 1983
Courses
Summer 2026
- Special Topics: Soccernomics
Publications
Books by Stefan Szymanski
Soccer / Football
Kuper, S., & Szymanski, S. (2009). Soccernomics: 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. Nation Books. (Updated editions published through 2026)
Kuypers, T., & Szymanski, S. (1999). Winners & losers: The business strategy of football. Viking.
Szymanski, S. (2010). Football economics and policy. Palgrave Macmillan.
Szymanski, S. (2015). Money and soccer: A Soccernomics guide. Nation Books.
Szymanski, S., & Weineck, S. M. (2018). It's football, not soccer (and vice versa): On the history, emotion, and ideology behind one of the internet's most ferocious debates. University of Michigan Press.
Broader Sports Economics
Barros, C. P., & Szymanski, S. (Eds.). (2003). Transatlantic sport: The comparative economics of North American and European sports. Edward Elgar.
Andreff, W., & Szymanski, S. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook on the economics of sport. Edward Elgar.
Ross, S. F., & Szymanski, S. (2008). Fans of the world, unite! A (capitalist) manifesto for sports consumers. Stanford University Press.
Szymanski, S., & Zimbalist, A. (2005). National pastime: How Americans play baseball and the rest of the world plays soccer. Brookings Institution Press.
Szymanski, S. (2009). Playbooks and checkbooks: An introduction to the economics of modern sports. Princeton University Press.
Szymanski, S. (2010). The comparative economics of sport. Palgrave Macmillan.
Szymanski, S. (Ed.). (2024). Principles and paradoxes of sports economics: Contributions in honor of Rodney Fort. Springer.
Szymanski, S., & Wigmore, T. (2022). Crickonomics: The anatomy of modern cricket. Bloomsbury.
Social History
Szymanski, S., & Weineck, S. M. (2020). City of champions: A history of triumph and defeat in Detroit. The New Press.