Data envelopment analysis in measuring the efficiency of volleyball teams in Primorsko-Goranska County

Every sport organisation strives to evaluate its performance: its weaknesses and strengths. Measuring efficiency and sports are two interrelated concepts and it is not surprising that most of the research on sports is focused on analysing the efficiency of teams according to player techniques, attack and defence efficiency. However, there are very few studies based on the analysis of financial factors such as teams’ revenue and costs. In this paper two Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models were used to evaluate 16 young cadet volleyball teams in Primorsko-Goranska County based on two economic inputs. The paper aims to explain the importance of teams’ financial resources in achieving sports efficiency. To analyse the relative efficiency of teams, two frequently used models are employed, the Banker Charnes Cooper (BCC) and the Charnes Cooper Rhodes (CCR) model. In the end, a super efficiency analysis was conducted to make a distinction in efficiency scores between efficient units. Analyses showed that financial factors are not crucial factors for efficiency score and gave possibility to use obtained results and improve the performance of inefficient volleyball teams. The study was conducted on a sample of 16 teams through 4 inputs and 1 output collected during 2017/2018 season.