Before the COVID-19 pandemic, clubs in Big Five leagues enjoyed unstoppable
growth in their revenues, largely due to increases in media rights. In
contrast, clubs outside the Big Five have much weaker financial capabilities
and cannot rely solely on income from media rights, so they use the
transfer market to increase their revenues and develop a competitive
advantage. In the present study, we examined five Swiss Super League
clubs’ transfer market strategies from a resource-based perspective to
determine the competitive advantages they gain and the importance of
transfers to their economic models. Combining data between 2015 and
2020, with semi-structured interviews, we analysed the competitive
advantages these clubs developed thanks to the interaction between
resources, capability, luck, and market asymmetries. Our results revealed
three types of clubs and help fill a research gap, as this issue has barely
been addressed in studies on the research-based view or on sports teams.