Abstract

The aim of this article is to know at which level a club is more efficient and how promotion and relegation affects technical efficiency. The sample consists of clubs that played at least one season in the First Division in Spanish Professional Football League between seven seasons. The method for calculating technical efficiency is Data Envelopment Analysis and this is combined with the study of trend and stability to ensure the correct choice of model and to check the robustness of the results. Our conclusion is that teams that have promoted and relegated are more efficient. These clubs improve their technical efficiency after being relegated and staying in the lower category. It is necessary to pursue its optimal positioning depending on its sporting potential and its economic financial capacity but not necessarily the promotion. We suggest that the Spanish Football League review the conditions and format to promotion.

Keywords: Technical efficiency; Data envelopment analysis; Trend and stability; Spanish professional football league; Promotion and relegation