Identification of Segments of Soccer Clubs in the Spanish League First Division With a Latent Class Model

This article identifies different groups in a cost function framework of soccer clubs in the Spanish Football League First Division. In particular, we have clustered the sample— comprising data for seasons 1994/1995 to 2004/2005—into three groups. To do so, we have implemented a stochastic frontier latent class model, a procedure that also permits us to analyze the efficiency of the clubs with respect to their own frontiers. The results reveal that some of the clubs could improve their efficiency levels substantially.