The English Premier League is one of the most exciting football leagues in the world, but with Brexit fast approaching we look back 130 years to see how the diversity of a squad has affected this very British game of ball.
Casumo have analysed the backgrounds of each player in the Premier League dating back 130 years since the beginning of the English Football League using over 54,000 individual data points investigating the correlation between foreign players in a team and the number of titles won. Findings revealed:
- Ever since the EU’s Bosman Ruling in 1995 which allowed easier transfers of footballers within a single market, continental European players have grown in influence overtaking that of Scotland and Ireland in many cases.
- Scottish and Irish players used to play a far bigger role in English football than they do today.
- With the exception of Liverpool, most of the top 5 clubs have topped the league more times as their squads became more diverse.
The new study by Casumo shows that pre-Bosman ruling only 2% of the Chelsea squad came from Europe and saw them win just one league championship over 45 years, however with the reduction of barriers to European player transfers after 1995, this rose to 36% with the team taking home 5 titles in just 10 years.
Looking back to 1950, rival club Manchester United won 3 trophies with 85% of the squad being from England, yet after the Bosman ruling a whopping 11 cups were bought home with 50% of the team being European players; the bulk of the talent coming from Continental Europe followed by Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Asia & Oceania and Americas.
The Premier League ranks fourth among professional sports leagues in the world generating an eye-watering €5,340 (£4595) million revenue with players wages reflecting the popularity in the game. Will Brexit have a positive or negative impact the nation’s favourite sport? This study suggests that diversity of a team can in many cases, lead to the success of a squad and with the new interactive tool you can see the results for every team that’s ever played in the top division of English football within seconds.
