Measuring the efficiency of English Premier League football : A two‐stage data envelopment analysis approach

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper is to prove the superiority of a two‐stage data envelopment analysis compared to a one‐stage approach in measuring a football club's efficiency. Moreover it provides best practice benchmarks for the research sample which supports football officials to orient themselves to the right clubs. Design/methodology/approach – A non‐parametric two‐stage data envelopment analysis for the seasons 2006/07 to 2008/09 is introduced to measure the efficiency of English Premier League football clubs from an off‐field and an on‐field perspective. The results are compared with those of the traditional one‐stage data envelopment analysis approach to identify insufficiencies of the latter. Findings – The results show evidence that different conclusions derive from either the one‐ or the two‐stage approach with the threat of potential misinterpretations in the case of the former. Furthermore, this study provides football clubs with information to focus on specific efficiency‐enhancing strategies at the individual stages of the production process and therefore acts as a supportive tool for the football club officials for setting corrective actions if inefficiencies are identified. Research limitations/implications – The present article provides a foundation for future studies in other football leagues as well as for an intertemporal analysis which evaluates the efficiency of a club on a yearly basis. Originality/value – This is the first paper that introduces a two‐stage data envelopment analysis approach in football research. It has proven that it can identify sources of inefficiencies more accurately than a one‐stage data envelopment analysis and provides football officials with valuable information about their club.