Rising stars: competitive balance in five Asian football leagues

Competitive balance remains a core component of sport economics literature and an important management consideration for league organisers. This paper analyses competitive balance in the 'big five' Asian football leagues longitudinally between 1996/97 and 2017/18. Using recognised measures of league concentration and dominance, the results display a mixed picture in respect of competitive balance across the five major leagues in Asian football. The Asian football market has seen positive growth during the last two decades while competitive balance in most of the leagues examined has remained relatively stable. Some significant differences were detected in the levels of concentration between leagues. There was also some variation in terms of some leagues being dominated by a fewer number of teams. However, these two measures of competitive balance (concentration and dominance) were not necessarily correlated with each other. In a broader governance context, questions remain over the potential for further growth in the Asian football market given the dominant market position of the European game.