The Interesting Case of Portugal in the Economy of Sport

Abstract

This paper intends to analyze the interesting case of Portugal as sporting force. We do the study by analyzing the statistics on the Portuguese success in sport when available; specifically we end up comparing football with all the other Olympic sports. We conclude that there is a big divide, between football, and all the other Olympic sports put together. In Europe Portugal ranks in the first 6 regarding football but only in 30th (historically) or worse (taking into account the fact that some countries are very new) when regarding the Olympic Games. The reasons for that difference are related with culture, dimension and policy. In short, Portugal has a well-developed national policy and system on football, which produces results; but the country has nothing comparable in terms of the Olympics and therefore results don’t happen. We therefore recommend a more balanced investment and the presence of the 4 big football clubs in the Olympic sports as a way of improving the Portuguese performance in the Olympics. That improvement would have reflections in the country health and productivity, and would be socially beneficial. The paper is original because for our knowledge it is the first time the Portuguese sports have been analyzed with such a methodology and with those results.