Always change a winning team

The beautiful game of soccer is complex. This book analyses parts of this complexity. Various parts of the game, ranging from penalty and free kicks to whole game tactics, are modeled and analyzed with the use of relatively simple game theory. Always Change a Winning Team discusses and provides solutions to classical questions in soccer such as - Should a penalty be aimed wide or centered? - Why will the worst penalty executors always aim their penalties wide and (almost always) miss? - Why might the best national teams choose to lose initial matches in big tournaments? - How does the point system affect game play and uncertainty of outcome? - How could bad teams rise to stardom by picking ingenious tactics? - Why is soccer (or football as Europeans like to name it) the world.s most popular sport? - Why is soccer far more unpredictable than handball? This book is aimed at courses in Sport Management, Sports Economics and Sport Science and the structure of the book is consciously kept at a minimal academic level. Some knowledge of game theory is useful, but not crucial to grasp the contents.