Title: Ranking players by DEA the case of English Premier League

Authors: S. Mohammad Arabzad; Mazaher Ghorbani; Arash Shahin

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, Isfahan 8514143131, Iran ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, Isfahan 8514143131, Iran ' Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Hezar Jarib St., 81746-73441, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract: It is crucial for team managers and coaches to select best players. This is related to the costs and performance of the team. In this paper, a two-phase approach has been proposed to select and rank the best football players of the English Premier League. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) model has been utilised to identify the best players. Then, another type of DEA model has been used to rank the selected players. The proposed approach has been examined in the English Premier League 2010-2011. Findings imply that Rooney, Drogba and Tevez are ranked as first, second and third players, respectively.

Keywords: player selection; data envelopment analysis; DEA; player ranking; English Premier League; Premier League footballers; soccer.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2013.057479

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2013 Vol.15 No.4, pp.443 - 461

Published online: 27 Dec 2013 *

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