There is a strong correlation between the success of national leagues and the national prosperity of countries. Martijn Mak (Economic Bureau Amsterdam) describes this in a contribution to ESB (available in Dutch only). To investigate this, the gross domestic product (GDP) of European countries was compared with their UEFA coefficient, a score based on the success of clubs in European competitions. A plausible explanation for this association is that larger economies have a larger or wealthier fan base, resulting in higher revenues for the clubs.

However, some countries are performing better or worse than you would expect based on their economies. Southern European countries and England are exceeding expectations, while Germany and France are lagging behind. Dutch clubs do not play much better or worse than one could expect based on the economy.