The Economics of Sport
  • Sports Economics
  • About
  • Workshop
  • Selected Publications
  • Book Reviews
  • A Primer on Gaelic Games
  • Upcoming Events
  • Media
  • Education
  • Resources & Links
  • Data

State Boundaries & German World Cup Players

2/7/2014

 
By David Butler

On the 19th of December 1990, some months after West Germany had lifted the World Cup in Italy, a reunited German national team played its first international tie, defeating Switzerland 4-0 in a friendly in Stuttgart. From that day on, all German national team managers could select players for international squads from a larger population of the merged German Democratic Republic (eastern region) and German Federal Republic (western region).  

It is nearly 25 years since this Swiss tie but there still appears to be a significant divide between the historical regions when it comes to the German national team. Despite reunification there is a distinct divergence in the birth place of players in German World Cup squads between the west and the east that survives to this day. 

Since the 1994 World Cup there has been 136 places available in German World Cup squads. 100 (74%) of these have been filled by western born (or previously western born) players, while only 22 (16%) have been occupied by eastern born (or previously eastern born) players. 

As would be expected, many of these footballers have gone to more than one World Cup. Even if we control for this, the statistics largely stay the same. In total 92 German players have travelled to World Cups since 1994, 69 of which were from the west.  7 internationally born Germans have also reached the squad from 2002 onward (Cacau-Brazil, Klose, Trochowski, Podolski-Poland, Marin-former Yugoslavia, Neuville-Switzerland, Asamoah-Ghana). As for the 2014 squad, Toni Kroos is the only player from the old east Germany to make it to Brazil and both Podolski and Klose were born in Poland. The other 20 Germans were born in the west.

Picture
There are many reasons why this geographical pattern occurs. The observed differences are probably not unicausal and far too complex to discuss at length here. Solely for the purposes of conjecture I would think that political reasons (Declan Jordan discussed political regimes and the success of football clubs here  and here), socio-economic reasons (investment stories and the the prevelance of Bundesliga clubs that are located in the west) and cultural reasons, all have a part to play in understanding the divergence. Above all else, there would be a clear population effect and the distribution could easily be representative of the population of the regions.
 
Perhaps this effect will fade as time passes. The youngest player of all 92 observations, Julian Draxler, was born in Gladbeck in 1993. This was only some 3 years after Klinsmann, Völler et al (below) lined out for the famous match in Stuttgart. The globalisation of the sport may also serve to create a greater dispersion in birth places, as the data suggests more foreign born players are registering for Germany as time has passed (and many home born players are now registering for other countries, as the current U.S.A squad would suggest).

While recent research challenges the proposition that Germany suffers from an economic divide between the west and east when it comes to the German national football team, the legacy survives.



Comments are closed.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    About

    This website was founded in July 2013.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    American Football
    Athletics
    Baseball
    Basketball
    Behavioural Economics
    Boxing
    Broadcasting
    Competitive Balance
    Cricket
    Cycling
    Darts
    David Butler
    Declan Jordan
    Drugs
    Ed Valentine
    Epl
    Esports
    Expenditure
    F1
    Fifa World Cup
    Finances
    Funding
    Gaa
    Gaelic Games
    Gambling
    Game Theory
    Gary Burns
    Geography
    Golf
    Greyhound Racing
    Guest Posts
    Horse Racing
    Impact Studies
    John Considine
    John Eakins
    League Of Ireland
    Location
    Media
    Mls
    Mma
    Olympics
    Participation
    Paul O'Sullivan
    Premier League
    Regulation
    Research
    Robbie Butler
    Rugby
    Simpsonomics
    Snooker
    Soccer
    Spatial Analysis
    Sporting Bodies
    Stephen Brosnan
    Swimming
    Taxation
    Teaching
    Technology
    Tennis
    Transfers
    Uefa
    Ufc
    World Cup
    Wwe

Related

The website is not formally affiliated to any institution and all of the entries represent the personal views and opinions of an individual contributor. The website operates on a not-for-profit basis. For this reason we decline all advertisement opportunities. 

Contact

To contact us email sportseconomics2013@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @SportEcon.