How Does a Player\u27s Involvement in their National Team Given their Ethnicity affect their Market Valuation in the Top-Five Leagues?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper investigates player involvement in national team and how it effects their market valuation as it relates to ethnicity. Previous research has evaluated other factors that affect player market valuation such as age and position. However, this paper seeks to see if there are discriminatory effects on player market pricing based on a player’s ethnic origins. The three ethnic regions of focus for this paper are South America, African, and Europe. The focus of this paper is to determine whether European players are favored in relation to the other two regions of the world. Regression models consider player age, position, national team representation, and ethnic origins. Findings suggest that there is no evidence for discrimination against African players in the transfer market in relation to European payers. Further, while South American players are generally more favored based on their style of play, when they decide to represent European national teams, there is evidence that they are discriminated against