The ranking of football players has always engaged media and supporters worldwide. The different views on ranking are due to two reasons. First, leagues are heterogeneous with various qualities. Second, fans often rely on different performance measures and statistics. Despite the fact that team...

This study uses a multi-output multi-input Data Efficiency Analysis (DEA) to estimate the performance of all thirty-two participated football teams in the UEFA Champions League (CL) tournament 2005-06. The estimates are based on official match statistics from all 125 matches.

The mass media, the football supporters and other experts in many countries are often engaged in the ranking of football players. Given the heterogeneity of various leagues or series in which players play, such a comparison is almost impossible. On the other hand, the performance of players in...