FAQs - Capology

What leagues are included in the Dewey subscription?

England: Premier League, Championship
Italy: Serie A, Serie B
Spain: La Liga, La Liga 2
Germany: 1.Bundesliga, 2.Bundesliga
France: Ligue 1, Ligue 2
United States: MLS (provided in a separate dataset)

How is this data sourced?

Capology relies on a network of insiders directly involved in contract negotiations as well as news publications around the world. When this is insufficient, Capology’s algorithms provide a best estimate using over 20 variables, including age, position, date of last contract, and more.

What kind of salary information is available?

All Capology salaries are estimates of the player’s base salary only and do not include bonuses or performance incentives. Capology also provides gross (pre-tax) and net (post-tax) salary estimates for every player. Every monetary variable is available in three currencies: Euro, British Pound, and US Dollar, based on current exchange rates.

How does Capology estimate gross (pre-tax) and net (post-tax) salaries?

We consulted with international tax professionals to determine the best taxation rates across 100’s of leagues and countries, including regional differences and unique tax exemptions that exist for professional footballers. For the purpose of our work, we consider all players to be single and residents of the country or region that they play home games in.

Many countries in Europe also discuss and report on salaries differently. England, like the US, tends to discuss gross (pre-tax) salary figures, while Mediterranean countries like Italy and Spain tend to use net (post-tax) as a frame of reference. Based on the information received, Capology performs a forwards or backwards calculation to determine the other half of the salary estimate.

What’s the coverage of finance data? How representative is it of the entire market?

Capology has financial coverage for over 15 leagues in Europe. There are 209 men’s professional football leagues recognized by FIFA in the world.

Capology’s financial coverage of the English Premier League begins in 2013, along with Championship (England), League One (England), League Two (England), Serie A (Italy), Serie B (Italy), La Liga (Spain), La Liga 2 (Spain), Ligue 1 (France), Ligue 2 (France), 1.Bundesliga (Germany), 2.Bundesliga (Germany), Eredivisie (Netherlands), Scottish Premiership (Scotland), and Superligaen (Denmark).

What kind of finance information is available?

Capology provides a standardized Profit and Loss Statement, and Balance Sheet. In the Profit and Loss Statement, a breakdown of revenues and expenses is provided. Revenues include Matchdays, Broadcasting, Commercial, Player Trading, and Other. Expenses include Amortizations & Depreciations, Personnel, Player Trading, and Other. In the Balance Sheet, Cash, Short Term Debt, Long Term Debt, Total Equity are all provided, among others.

Like Capology salary data, all monetary values are provided in three currencies: Euro, British Pound, and US Dollar, plus the base currency and currency id. The base currency is recorded as British Pounds (GBP) for all England and Scotland coverage. The rest of Capology’s European coverage is recorded in Euros (EUR).

Null values in for transfer fees in Finance dataset

The presence of nulls in revenues and costs from player trading varies from country to country, and often from club to club, due to differing accounting principles. We've worked to standardize a financial model to enable comparisons for our users, which required some compromises.

For instance, in Italy, revenues and costs from player trading are always recorded within the P&L. Consequently, users will find null values in the "Net result from player trading" field (outside the P&L).

In England, for the majority of clubs, there will be null values within the P&L, while the "Net result from player trading" will include the sum of revenues and costs from both transfer fees and player loans in and out.