tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/uefa-champions-league-40157/articlesUEFA Champions League – The Conversation2024-01-30T16:53:08Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2221142024-01-30T16:53:08Z2024-01-30T16:53:08ZHow Jürgen Klopp reconnected Liverpool FC with Shankly’s socialist soul<p>In his first press conference after arriving at Anfield in 2015, Jürgen Klopp <a href="https://twitter.com/footballdaily/status/1224366407757987840?lang=en">stated</a>: “It’s not so important what people think when you come in. It’s much more important what people think when you leave.” </p>
<p>After nine years, his words resonate through the hearts of Liverpool FC fans. On January 26, Klopp <a href="https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/jurgen-klopp-announces-decision-step-down-liverpool-manager-end-season">announced</a> that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.</p>
<p>Klopp has given Liverpool fans many memories to cherish. In 2019, his side staged a miraculous comeback against Barcelona on the way to lifting the Champion’s League trophy in Madrid. The following year, he ended Liverpool’s 30-year wait for a Premier League title.</p>
<p>Klopp inherited a Liverpool squad without any promising potential and a board that lacked vision and desire. Between 2010 and 2015, Liverpool had won just a single trophy – the League Cup in 2012. </p>
<p>However, Klopp delivered his first elite European trophy within three years of being appointed. From that point onward, he’s gone on to win all major trophies, guide Liverpool to four major European finals, and lose out on two Premier League titles by a single point. </p>
<p>Klopp will leave a legacy similar to that of Liverpool’s iconic manager, Bill Shankly. Between 1959 and 1974, Shankly transformed the club from second-division obscurity to three-time English champions and winners of the Uefa cup (Europe’s second-rank club competition). </p>
<p>Shankly endeared himself to fans of Liverpool FC, a club with deep working-class roots, by embracing the ethos of socialism (where individuals work together as a collective) as a fundamental principle for team success. Klopp’s persona as a man of the people – through his style, attitude and background – also strongly resonates with Liverpool’s socialist roots and blue collar community.</p>
<p>For instance, Klopp insists that every Liverpool player must <a href="https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/liverpool-anfield-sign-norwich-jordan-18924539">earn the right</a> to touch the famous “This is Anfield” sign by winning silverware. The iconic Anfield sign was first hung up on the wall of the player’s tunnel by Shankly to remind opponents of the spirit of Anfield.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Jürgen Klopp announcing he will leave Liverpool FC at the end of the season.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Socialist Spirit</h2>
<p>Klopp has never sought to create a hierarchy between himself, the players and the fans. Early on in his tenure, he referred to himself as “<a href="https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/238155-the-normal-one">the normal one</a>” and has, on several occasions, been spotted sharing a drink with local people in the pub. In his press conferences, Klopp has often said that the team drew <a href="https://www.football365.com/news/klopp-on-cl-inspiration-we-do-it-for-carol-and-caroline">inspiration</a> from the staff at the club’s training ground.</p>
<p>Since his appointment, Klopp has also recognised the power of Liverpool fans, referring to them as the 12th man responsible for supplying energy to the squad. As Anfield reverberates today with the chant “I am so glad that Jurgen is a red”, the echoes of such intense emotions are a reminder for loyal Liverpool supporters of a legacy still sung about around half a century later.</p>
<p>Klopp has brought the same fiery socialist spirit back to Liverpool that Shankly managed to harness in the 1960s. Two managers separated by generations but bound as Merseyside icons who understood that success stems from people.</p>
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<h2>Engaging with the fans</h2>
<p>Like Shankly before him, Klopp has resurrected Liverpool by understanding what the club’s fans craved more than silverware – someone who embodies the club’s working-class soul. A leader to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with through good times and bad. </p>
<p>From Klopp’s iconic fist pumps after victories, to his <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11635563/Humiliated-Jurgen-Klopp-apologises-Liverpools-travelling-fans-Brighton-defeat.html">meaningful apologies</a> to fans during times of crisis, show his authentic relationship with the club and the fanbase. He celebrates goals in nerve-wracking victories by running up and down the sideline (once <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/37638431/when-goal-celebrations-go-bad-liverpool-boss-jurgen-klopp-pulls-hamstring">pulling his hamstring</a> in the process). And he openly <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11635563/Humiliated-Jurgen-Klopp-apologises-Liverpools-travelling-fans-Brighton-defeat.html">asked supporters for forgiveness</a> after a humbling 3–0 defeat by Brighton in 2023. </p>
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<p>Klopp’s outgoing authenticity has also resonated powerfully with Liverpool supporters around the world. He actively embraces fan media like “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@theredmentv">The Redmen TV</a>” YouTube channel, and makes an effort to appear in person for interviews and podcasts. He even once wrote a letter to a young fan reassuring him over his feelings of personal anxiety.</p>
<h2>Revolutionary vision</h2>
<p>When Shankly was appointed in 1959, he was frustrated with Liverpool’s training regime and facilities. Previously, players had become accustomed to running on the street as part of their training routine. However, Shankly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/the-agony-and-the-ecstasy/2018/dec/01/liverpool-boot-room-throw-in-jurgen-klopp-bill-shankly">revamped the training regime</a>, introducing sessions on the training ground where players could run and practice while wearing appropriate football boots.</p>
<p>In a similar way to Shankly, Klopp has helped the club evolve. He insisted on building modern training facilities where the youth academy could be integrated with the first team, and played a part in the development of the club’s new training ground.</p>
<p>Liverpool’s managing director Andy Hughes <a href="https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/12134609/liverpool-boss-jurgen-klopp-delighted-with-new-kirkby-training-ground">praised</a> the combined efforts of Klopp, sporting director Michael Edwards and academy director Alex Inglethorpe for their “instrumental role” in creating the new facility. </p>
<p>Klopp’s legacy at Anfield, in the Premier League and in modern football, is beyond doubt. As was the case for Shankly’s successor, Bob Paisley, the next Liverpool manager certainly has big boots to fill.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronnie is an avid Liverpool FC fan and has carried out research into transforming management practices in English football.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wasim Ahmed does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Jurgen Klopp will leave Liverpool with a remarkably similar legacy to the club’s iconic manager, Bill Shankly.Ronnie Das, Associate Professor in Digital and Data Science, AudenciaWasim Ahmed, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1888262022-08-17T14:53:28Z2022-08-17T14:53:28ZA lucrative new African football league is coming: the pros and cons<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479352/original/file-20220816-26-vqj8jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Zouhair El Moutaraji celebrates Morocco's Wydad AC winning at the Caf Champions League in 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Confederation for African Football (Caf) recently <a href="https://www.cafonline.com/press-release/news/caf-launches-groundbreaking-africa-super-league">announced plans</a> for a continent-wide Africa Super League. It will kick off with 24 clubs from 16 countries in August 2023. </p>
<p>The new tournament will run annually from August until May, with 197 games in a format much like the European <a href="https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/">UEFA Champions League</a>. It starts off with the teams grouped in three zones – North Africa, West/Central Africa and East/Southern Africa. The top 16 clubs move into a knockout phase.</p>
<p>The enticement is a projected <a href="https://qz.com/a-super-league-is-promising-to-make-african-soccer-cl-1849404513">US$200 million windfall</a> from Caf with 25% of the funds going to the development of women’s and youth football. The rest goes into prize money for participating clubs. The champion club will receive US$11.5 million and all members of Caf will get US$1 million each. This is much bigger than the US$2.5 million received by current winners of the African Champions League club tournament. The <a href="https://www.cafonline.com/total-caf-champions-league/">African Champions League</a> and the <a href="https://www.cafonline.com/total-confederation-cup/">Confederation Cup</a> will continue with entries from all African countries but the format for both competitions will return to the earlier iteration of two-legged elimination contests. </p>
<p>For Caf, which lost an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/62478024">estimated US$45 million</a> in 2020-21, the league is a way to earn big money from television rights. However, Caf provided very few answers to questions about the practical realities of the league when its plans were announced in Tanzania on 10 August. </p>
<p>There are pertinent questions that need clarifying, but even at this early stage it’s clear that there are strengths and weaknesses to the shiny new Africa Super League.</p>
<h2>Issues to be clarified</h2>
<p>There are at least two major issues that Caf should clarify. The proposed Super League, which runs for the entire football season, involves 24 clubs that will, at the same time, be playing in their national club competitions. Continental competitions often disrupt local leagues. In places like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, clubs sometimes <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-transfers-negatively-affect-nigerian-footballers-families-148298">travel by road</a> three times the distance clubs in England travel for league games. With these clubs being away from local fixtures for long periods, the travel arrangements for local competitions become more complex. </p>
<p>Furthermore, African players travel frequently to seek <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3vjm7/african-football-trafficking">contracts abroad</a>. This affects the squad sizes of local clubs that are being asked to participate in expanded fixtures at the continental level.</p>
<p>A second question is whether the winner of this competition will automatically have a place in the expanded <a href="https://pledgetimes.com/the-new-version-of-the-club-world-cup-between-2023-and-2024/">World Clubs competition</a> that world football body Fifa is reportedly amending. This is important given that the current representative to the global competition from Africa is the winner of the African Champions League.</p>
<h2>There are benefits</h2>
<p>The predicted US$200 million windfall from this competition is not as steep as many may think. As far back as 2015, Caf signed a US$1 billion <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2015/06/12/caf-signs-new-marketing-deal-with-sportfive-until-2028/71131504/">TV rights deal</a> with the Lagardère Group for a little less than US$100 million a year for 12 years. Although Caf <a href="https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/8/77592/CAF-terminates-billion-dollar-contract-with-Lagardere-Sports">cancelled</a> the deal a few years later, it was clear that the money had become a pittance considering similar TV rights contracts signed elsewhere. A US$4 billion deal was <a href="https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/ddmc-fortis-pay-us4-billion-afc-rights/">signed</a> by the Asian Football Confederation in 2018. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-four-big-challenges-facing-patrice-motsepe-africas-new-soccer-boss-157015">The four big challenges facing Patrice Motsepe, Africa's new soccer boss</a>
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<p>Seven years after the Lagardère contract, there is every reason to expect Caf to earn an improved television contract to support a proposed African Super League that offers more games with the assurance of the better-known teams participating. The new Super League is far better suited to TV interest and better placed to attract bigger rights deals than existing continent-wide competitions for clubs. </p>
<p>Of course, an African league is not nearly as popular as the champions league in Europe, where <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-11/champions-league-soccer-rights-expected-to-top-2-billion-in-us">US$2 billion in rights</a> was earned in 2022 and close to $1 billion brought in via <a href="https://www.elfutbolero.us/competitions/The-8-sponsors-of-the-UEFA-Champions-League-How-many-millions-do-they-spend-each-season-20210826-0029.html">commercial rights</a> alone. </p>
<h2>But also downsides</h2>
<p>Caf is <a href="https://qz.com/a-super-league-is-promising-to-make-african-soccer-cl-1849404513">selling</a> this competition as one that would make African clubs more attractive to players by dissuading many from travelling outside the continent to earn a living. However, the Africa Super League payoff to most of the participating clubs will not be significant enough to keep players home. </p>
<p><a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/2022/02/10/north-africas-dominance-entering-the-caf-champions-league/">North African clubs</a> that currently keep most of their players and even poach from other African countries will be advantaged. With Caf’s proposed formula for sharing prize money, they will be able to widen the gap between themselves and clubs from other regions of the continent. Keeping players in sub-Saharan African clubs will continue to be a struggle, even with this new league.</p>
<p>Further, Caf could have used this opportunity to strengthen <a href="https://www.aclsports.com/is-a-continent-wide-football-league-viable-in-africa/">privately owned clubs</a> by granting access only to them. But this is not the case. It has instead sought to include clubs based on current strength of performance even if these clubs are state supported. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/for-footballers-of-african-descent-playing-in-euro-2020-will-be-a-double-edged-sword-158462">For footballers of African descent, playing in Euro 2020 will be a double-edged sword</a>
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<p>The problem, across the continent, is that state-supported clubs are not compelled to develop commercially and become trapped in their dependency on state doles. Establishing financially strong and business-focused clubs is not supported by this new league.</p>
<h2>To sum it up</h2>
<p>Overall, the African Super League will bring more funds to African football – if Caf works hard on securing top TV and media rights. Clubs, especially in northern Africa, will likely expand their revenue. </p>
<p>Unfortunately Caf has, with the current plan, missed an opportunity to develop commercially focused club competition in Africa. Allowing state-owned clubs to participate is a missed opportunity for clubs to develop revenue sources that are needed to make them competitive at a global level.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chuka Onwumechili does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Africa Super League brings big money but a logistical nightmare and a missed opportunity for commercial club development.Chuka Onwumechili, Professor of Communications, Howard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1841822022-06-01T15:17:06Z2022-06-01T15:17:06ZPanic, horror and chaos: what went wrong at the Champions League final – and what needs to be done to make football safer<p><em>Daniel Silverstone, a professor of criminology and an expert in policing studies, attended the Champion’s League final in Paris and witnessed chaotic scenes. Here, he and Jan Ludvigsen examine what the latest research can tell us about how to tackle an issue that continues to bring football – and the authorities that police it – into disrepute.</em></p>
<p>I was one of those unlucky Liverpool fans, caught up in the middle of the chaos battling to enter the stadium’s gate Y <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61633840">at the Stade de France</a> in Paris on Saturday. As I left the match, I saw a Liverpool fan who had already been pepper-sprayed chased by a French police officer, despite his colleagues urging him not to. The fan was then hit from behind on the back of his head with a wooden baton.</p>
<p>Panic, horror and chaos. These are just some of the words that have been used to describe the events that occurred during what became a memorable night for all the wrong reasons in the French capital. Security and safety issues continue to trouble football and the world’s other biggest sporting events and repeatedly become the key talking point once the final whistle blows.</p>
<p>I went to watch Liverpool take on Real Madrid with my sister, brother and a family friend. Like all Liverpool fans we had been looking forward to the culmination of exciting season. But the excitement soon turned to fear when we realised that we were getting caught up in something that was beyond our control. We were getting crushed outside gate Y, jostling with security to prevent them from closing the gate on us. <a href="https://theathletic.com/3330768/2022/05/30/liverpool-champions-league-gas/">Similar scenes</a> were also reported outside gates X and B.</p>
<p>I had flashbacks to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/may/31/champions-league-paris-final-fiasco-triggers-hillsborough-survivor-trauma">Hillsborough</a>, the stadium disaster on April 15 1989 which resulted in the tragic deaths of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jul/28/liverpool-fans-death-ruled-as-97th-victim-of-hillsborough-disaster">97 Liverpool fans</a>. I remember watching dazed fans, numb from shock, on the television. In Paris, I thought history was about to repeat itself. We all felt a sense of dread. A brief, intense moment that we couldn’t breathe and that we might not make it. Somehow, a much anticipated, post-COVID joyous family event had suddenly switched to what felt like a family fight for survival. </p>
<p>Luckily – and miraculously – everyone survived that night in Paris. And it was only when we managed to get to our seats that we realised how our experience was not uncommon. In front of us were disgruntled fans who had arrived at 6.30pm and endured two hours of queuing. All around us were empty seats of Liverpool fans who hadn’t made it in. And behind us, the one fan who arrived just before half time. He was pale after being tear-gassed. </p>
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>Paris now needs to be a catalyst for how authorities consider issues of security at football events. I have been working as an academic for decades and <a href="https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/news/articles/2019/11/7/researcher-gains-national-coverage">recently</a> as a director of a Centre of Policing Studies. Ironically, one of my most recent pre-COVID assignments was organising – in conjunction with Merseyside Police – the delivery of human rights based training in Liverpool to Qatari police ahead of the <a href="https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/qatar2022">World Cup</a>. My colleague Jan – who followed the final from his home in Liverpool – is a sociologist who actively researches and has <a href="https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/staff-profiles/faculty-of-arts-professional-and-social-studies/humanities-and-social-science/jan-ludvigsen">published extensively</a> on the relationship between sport mega-events, security and football fans. Mine and Jan’s backgrounds therefore enable us to provide reflections on what happened in Paris and, crucially, what needs to be done in the future. </p>
<h2>Mixed messages</h2>
<p>Before anyone really knew what was happening in Paris, fans were being blamed. Broadcasters announced that the match, which was due to kick off at 9pm local time, was delayed by 36 minutes. As displayed on the stadium’s giant screens, this was, in UEFA’s own words, due to the “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/champions-league-kick-off-time-delayed-liverpool-b2089608.html">late arrival</a>” of fans. Yet, the fact was many Liverpool fans were at the stadium hours before kick-off and reports and footage began emerging on social media showing dangerous queues, closed gates near the turnstiles, the use of tear-gas by French police and a general sense of desperation spreading among supporters, families and media reporters outside the stadium gates. </p>
<p>Liverpool FC were quick to announce that the club would request a formal investigation into the causes of the <a href="https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/liverpool-fc-statement-ucl-final-entry-issues">security issues</a> and they have subsequently encouraged fans to <a href="https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/lfc-asks-fans-share-champions-league-final-experiences">share their experiences</a>. UEFA also confirmed that they have commissioned an independent report that will investigate the <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/news/0275-15451c8c7dc9-51932d4946d5-1000--uefa-commissions-independent-report-into-events-surrounding-uef/">events surrounding the final</a>. </p>
<p>But French authorities have remained adamant that the issues were caused by ticketless fans and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61630201">counterfeit tickets</a> – this claim has been <a href="https://twitter.com/JacobsBen/status/1531236221640495104">heavily contested</a>. Unusually though, in this digital age, many fans were allocated paper tickets. What affect that had on the claims of fake ticketing is, as yet, unclear.</p>
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<p>France – and Paris specifically – is not a newcomer when it comes to staging large-scale events and internationally significant football fixtures. In 2016, the city hosted another UEFA event, the European Championship in men’s football, while the country was in a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36089675">state of emergency</a> following a series of terrorist attacks in November 2015, including suicide bombers who <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0193723518797028?casa_token=6bjjPDdUvOsAAAAA%3A0AxeFY1Crc4xaZp5QSy2OaxD1FbYva1UxMLBOE02Jma7-Rj3S6d2_120diaCB8Q0MLaTd-UmreI#">struck outside</a> the Stade De France after failing to get past the stadium entry. Sadly, Euro 2016 was also disrupted by violence, disorder and clashes between <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36515575">fans and the police</a>.</p>
<p>But this is not just a French problem. There is no doubt that the UK is fighting its own security battles, as the upsurge in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/may/30/pitch-invasions-cannot-continue-warns-efl-chief-as-talks-on-sanctions-loom">pitch invasions</a> in recent weeks show. And there was also a major <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/euro-2020-final-where-ticketless-fans-breached-wembley-stadium-security-before-england-v-italy-match-12354458">security breach</a> at Wembley Stadium for the Euro 2020 (held in 2021) final, where ticketless fans managed to break through the security barriers and turnstiles and gained access to the stadium.</p>
<p>Months later, in January 2022, a crush at the Olembé Stadium in Cameroon during the Africa Cup of Nations tragically resulted <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-60120367">in eight deaths</a>. All of which adds to the mounting evidence that the problem of security and safety in football is getting worse.</p>
<h2>Communication is key</h2>
<p>Research into <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article-abstract/52/2/381/504814">football policing</a> suggests that the absence of communication and dialogue between police and crowds are two factors that can contribute to the escalation of disorder. As Jan’s <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01937235211043650#_i4">research</a> underlines, there must be mutual respect and understanding between fans and those responsible for security.</p>
<p>One of the reasons for this is that the policing of football matches is highly complex – both on the ground on match days, but also in its pre-planning lead up to the fixtures. The policing of fans is also not limited to the stadium rings. Large numbers of ticketless fans travel to sporting events and choose to attend <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1012690219894888?casa_token=1HYdb6_2pSYAAAAA%3AKkPlvFjaPhcnfhMq51QUz543oRkKeEu4UwGECfUeJzcncTZd6UmfzV_7LFlUM8lU4yN5TpwSU2g">fan zones</a> or other public viewing events. To account for this, Jan’s <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Sport-Mega-Events-Security-and-COVID-19-Securing-the-Football-World/Ludvigsen/p/book/9781032192734">recently published book shows</a> how major sporting event security relies much upon the transfer of so-called “best practices” that migrate from event to event. These processes are aided by a European-wide security networks consisting of diverse stakeholders, such as law-enforcement, governing bodies, national associations and organised fan networks.</p>
<p>Before the final in May, Merseyside Police would have provided the French authorities with a “closed briefing” of what and whom to expect along with other risk assessments. They would have also sent a team of “spotters” to work with Spanish and French police. According to a former crowd safety and security adviser at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium, this briefing ought to have included an appraisal of the usual problems such as fans without tickets, drunken supporters and fake tickets. A joint session between the two French police forces, the Gendermarie and the Compagnies républicaines de sécurité (CRS), with the British police and UEFA would have also gone through a complete run through of the event. </p>
<h2>Information for travelling fans</h2>
<p>Open-source intelligence work would have shown UEFA and relevant authorities the numbers of fans to be expected as all flights and trains from the UK to Paris were fully booked weeks in advance of the final. So, the authorities had plenty of time to put in place a communication strategy for arriving fans. This should have included both instruction on how to enter and exit the stadium safely and advice that fans should be careful of their personal safety within the local area in the immediate vicinity of the stadium when they were leaving the game. Instead, indications of what awaited – and perhaps what to expect – emerged in the fixture’s build up, when it was reported that fans wearing club colours in the area around the Champs Elysees could risk a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/liverpool-paris-champions-league-police-fines-b2089039.html">fine from the French police</a>. So no warnings, no information – just punitive action.</p>
<p>Football fans are comprised of a diverse social group, and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0193723519881202#_i11">research shows</a> that many supporters expect and even welcome security when they go to a game. And that seems to have increased since big sporting events increasingly became targets for acts of terrorism, supporter violence and urban crime. </p>
<h2>A charged atmosphere</h2>
<p>And with elite football comes mass crowds, rendering potential issues of overcrowding a very real risk. So fans are alive to these dangers, and appreciate that their security and safety are being prioritised <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0193723519881202#_i11">by security and event managers</a> when, or if, trouble arises. </p>
<p>But, it is all about striking a balance: an excessive presence and largely overt security measures may be perceived as both intrusive and contributing to an <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0193723518797028?casa_token=uH30B3JPcwcAAAAA%3AlqfHgguN8NBwljUDYSylZMFDQ24gqkhpCgvJvefsSsVlRFpNqazZTyPi33-RH--tRGgiPcpZdDg">oppressive or sanitised atmosphere</a> in stadiums. For example, when security staff crackdown on innocent fans with <a href="https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/puel-out-protester-who-sign-2440724">banners</a> or fans wearing clothes promoting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/16/fifa-world-cup-ambush-marketing">unlicensed products</a>. </p>
<p>In addition to security and safety, service measures are a key pillar of European approaches to football matches and <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/sport/safety-security-and-service-approach-convention">sport events</a>. In a nutshell, the emphasis on “service” creates a welcoming and enjoyable event for supporters. This can lead to feelings of safety and can be achieved through, for example, information points or designated individuals assisting supporters who often find themselves in a new city. Think of the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19201329">volunteer helpers</a>, who helped make the London Olympics in 2012 such a welcoming environment for spectators.</p>
<p>However, in the case of the Champions League final, it appears that the core principles and service standards for ensuring that fans are treated well and feel safe were abandoned or collapsed. In some areas around the stadium where the gates were shut, stewards were reportedly absent and information about the match’s delay was <a href="https://www.liverpool.no/innsikt/2022/5/alle-ville-bare-hjem-bort-fra-stadion-det-var-utrolig-merkelig-stemning/">never provided to supporters</a>.</p>
<p>I witnessed, first hand, that safety was an issue at every step along our journey to the stadium. Even the roads leading there were so jammed with traffic, that people were leaving taxis to jump over reservations in a bid to reach the game. Something as mundane as buying food and a drink in the Liverpool section was so poorly managed that the long queues at half time ultimately led to frustrated supporters arguing among themselves.</p>
<p>And as the game’s kick-off was approaching in Paris, the official UEFA security and the Compagnies républicaines de sécurité kept fans in long queues without instruction and closed entrance gates without warning. They refused to respond to basic and polite fan questioning in regards to essential matters, such as how to exit the stadium or to cross the main road which runs next to the station and needed to be crossed for fans to seek transport home. </p>
<p>But far worse than that, the police began resorting to violent tactics such as deploying pepper spray, teargas and their truncheons without clear warning. </p>
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<p>While policing in the UK has rightly been subject to intense scrutiny, the service retains the ethos of community policing based on dialogue and mutual respect. It can be argued that the French police do not share this ethos and this has resulted in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55100247">other brutal actions</a>, such as the prolonged beating of black music presenter in Paris and widespread allegations of heavy handed policing of <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/06/18/they-talk-us-were-dogs/abusive-police-stops-france">demonstrators and minorities</a>. </p>
<p>There is also another broader structural issue for French society – the failure to integrate and empower the next generation of migrants and their children living in the types of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/apr/04/photographer-banlieue-monsieur-bonheur-department-93-paris-france-fox-news-no-go-zone">decaying banlieues</a> close to the stadium.</p>
<p>It was obvious to everyone there on the day that a key security issue was the presence of a sizeable group of <a href="https://www.thisisanfield.com/2022/05/videos-show-how-french-gangs-forced-entry-at-stade-de-france/">young local men</a> intent on entering the ground. There have also been numerous reports of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/liverpool-fans-paris-champions-league-final-b2089863.html">visiting fans being mugged</a>. </p>
<p>The extent of this disillusion within French society was evident in 2015 when suicide bombers <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-34839080">attacked the Stade de France</a>. Following that attack, one study explored survey responses from 1,500 football fans, some of whom believed that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0193723518797028?casa_token=6bjjPDdUvOsAAAAA%3A0AxeFY1Crc4xaZp5QSy2OaxD1FbYva1UxMLBOE02Jma7-Rj3S6d2_120diaCB8Q0MLaTd-UmreI">“nothing would be the same again”</a> in terms of football security and safety. Sadly, the Champions League final shows that nothing has in fact changed, structurally, within the areas of Stade de France. </p>
<p>Studies have <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/now/2019/april/gangs-jihadism-klausen.html">clearly established</a> the link between some criminal and terrorist groups with football’s international audience and its plethora of high profile attendees. So Saturday’s final was a high-value target.</p>
<p>To make all football fans safer, the French authorities need to heed the lessons of the inclusion work which has had some success in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/networks/radicalisation-awareness-network-ran/publications_en">other European countries</a> and the UK. For example, in challenging terrorist narratives and proposing alternative narratives which focus on what society is <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/whats-new/publications/lessons-learned-alternative-narrative-campaigns-march-2022_en">“for” rather than “against”</a>.</p>
<h2>Blaming fans … again</h2>
<p>Overall, both history and research shows that when disorder spreads at a football match or sporting event <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1012690209344658?casa_token=rgMdVCJmPloAAAAA:NlWnEkdrUByfrOB1RcwOmqcU4H7YNsEth0wGSZ8VaxL_bcNQu-7u7BA4X32cUU0kKOKc8erOAkE">multiple factors play a role</a>.</p>
<p>Rarely are fans solely to blame when things go wrong – yet that has been the dominant discourse in this case: first blaming fans’ “late arrival”, then “ticketless” fans and then <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/may/30/liverpool-fans-caused-initial-problems-in-paris-says-french-sports-minister">“fake tickets on an industrial scale”</a>.</p>
<p>This is pure rhetoric and reinforces the criminalising discourses that present a view of fans as “threats” and “potential troublemakers”. Sadly, and tragically, Liverpool fans have seen this played out before and had to fight over two decades for justice following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/hillsborough-disaster-24204">Hillsborough Disaster</a> – another event that was appallingly managed by the police and where blame was shifted to the fans. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-hillsborough-law-needed-to-tackle-burning-injustice-and-empower-victims-and-family-86664">New 'Hillsborough Law' needed to tackle 'burning injustice' and empower victims and family</a>
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<p>Indeed, one of the key lessons from the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-hillsborough-independent-panel">Hillsborough Panel</a> and subsequent inquests are the dangers involved when the first narratives that emerge from the perspectives of the authorities, sport’s governing bodies or the police, are blindly and uncritically accepted. Then, the disaster’s aftermath also led to a greater emphasis being placed on health and safety in English football and beyond, including the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00113921211017624?casa_token=X_py4MCZLfEAAAAA%3A2Iki_wz6EY_Z6aiw56U_C1Yr37iN-fN63oK5Nc39Bbae4kzbzrZEn9XtpTmkW1mdn8JdBIwJRto">all-seated stadia</a>. Indeed, the recent events demonstrate how these lessons are as relevant as ever. </p>
<p>International fan networks have been quick to react, and voice their support for Liverpool supporters on Saturday. For example, the pan-European supporter network of Football Supporters Europe (<a href="http://www.fanseurope.org/">FSE</a>) – which is recognised by UEFA as a legitimate partner on matters of security and safety in football – tweeted as the events unfolded: “Fans at the Champions League final bear no responsibility for tonight’s fiasco.”</p>
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<p>Merseyside Police also stated that the Liverpool fans’ behaviour was <a href="https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/merseyside-police-say-liverpool-fans-24090792">“exemplary in shocking circumstances”,</a> while troubles were also experienced by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/03/real-madrid-demand-answers-over-treatment-of-fans-at-champions-league-final">Spanish fans</a> visiting Paris.</p>
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<p>Hillsborough is a powerful example of exactly why it is imperative that football fans are not scapegoated – but that their voices and versions are listened to. And that – despite the French and UEFA narratives that followed the match – evaluations and critical reflections into the organisational issues that negatively effected the final provide tangible lessons that inform practice and policy at future events.</p>
<p>In just two years, another sporting mega-event will return to Paris, as the city, including Stade de France, welcomes the world to the 2024 Olympic Games. </p>
<p>But many fans including myself left the Champions League final vowing never to return. And, for now, what should have been a night of celebration appears to be a textbook example of event mismanagement, scapegoating and blame shifting. To prevent the consequences at future events from becoming even more disastrous, things will need to change.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two researchers who specialise in policing and security at sporting events reflect on another bad day for football.Daniel Silverstone, Professor of Criminology, Head of the School of Law and Criminology, University of GreenwichJan Andre Lee Ludvigsen, Senior Lecturer, International Relations and Politics with Sociology, Liverpool John Moores UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1832462022-05-26T13:05:42Z2022-05-26T13:05:42ZChampions League final 2022: the economic tactics that drive Liverpool and Real Madrid<p>Liverpool against Real Madrid in the <a href="https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/final/">Champions League final</a> is a fixture for football fans to savour – two giants battling it out for one of the most prized trophies in the game. And regardless of the result, some will also see this match as a win for football over geopolitics and big money. </p>
<p>For these two sides making it to the final means that other powerful teams were knocked out along the way. There is no Manchester City, a club <a href="https://www.marca.com/en/football/premier-league/2021/08/15/6118f43f46163fdb708b4577.html">much criticised</a> for the lavish resources it receives from the Abu Dhabi governnment. There is no Paris St-Germain, which is funded by the vast <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/18/paris-saint-germains-qatari-owners-on-players-and-champions-league.html">wealth of Qatar</a>. </p>
<p>No sign of Chelsea either, the defending European champions, who <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/audio/2022/mar/03/what-will-be-roman-abramovich-chelsea-legacy-football-weekly-extra-podcast">until recently</a> enjoyed the financial backing of a billionaire with strong connections to Russian leaders and Russian gas.</p>
<p>So perhaps this year’s Champions League final is indeed a victory for football purists – a chance to support traditional clubs, untainted by the vast wealth and questionable politics of their rivals.</p>
<p>But before a wave of nostalgia washes over anyone, it is worth remembering that Liverpool versus Real Madrid is not a simple matter of old fashioned sporting values lifting up the beautiful game. </p>
<p>For a start, both clubs have traditionally had strong political associations; the Reds with <a href="https://www.thisisanfield.com/2019/10/is-liverpool-fc-a-socialist-football-club/">the left</a> and Los Blancos with <a href="https://www.nplhmag.com/franco-fascism-football">the right</a>. </p>
<p>And the two sides have openly embraced free market ideology, making them among the wealthiest clubs in the world. In the 2022 ranking of <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/sports-business-group/articles/deloitte-football-money-league.html">clubs by revenue</a>, Real Madrid (which has topped the list 12 times in the last 25 years) ranks second, with earnings of €640.1 million (£544.2 million), while Liverpool are seventh with €550.4 million (£467.9 million).</p>
<p>Both teams, then, earn and spend vast amounts of money. For instance, Liverpool has one of football’s most <a href="https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-see-rise-217m-revenue-22088144">commercially lucrative</a> kit deals (with Nike), while Real Madrid still has an appetite for spending vast sums on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/may/16/real-madrid-optimistic-signing-kylian-mbappe-psg-forward-says-its-almost-over">top players</a>. </p>
<p>And it would be naive to think that the clubs are uninterested in becoming even wealthier. Indeed, just over a year ago, Liverpool and Real Madrid were among the eight football clubs which <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/football/blog-marcottis-musings/story/4647009/european-super-league-one-year-after-its-collapsewhere-does-everything-stand">announced controversial plans</a> to form a European Super League. </p>
<p>This was <a href="https://theconversation.com/european-super-league-collapse-us-football-owners-badly-misread-supporter-culture-in-england-159476">a scheme</a> clearly designed to accelerate the flow of revenues into already rich clubs, at the expense of other sides across Europe. </p>
<p>Liverpool’s owners eventually stepped back from the proposal, at least for the time being. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez however, <a href="https://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/liga/2021-2022/real-madrid-president-florentino-perez-insists-super-league-would-bring-financial-fair-play-to-europ_sto8634011/story.shtml">still seems</a> intent on getting his way and launching a breakaway league. </p>
<p>So while it is true that neither of this year’s Champions League finalists are fuelled by oil and gas revenues, they remain prime examples of free market football, and the cash it brings in. </p>
<h2>Moneyball</h2>
<p>The graphics below allow us to take an overall view of the investments and sponsorship surrounding both clubs, all of which are in the public domain. Each circle represents an economic “actor” (a club, a business or an individual), while each connecting line represents a significant economic transaction. </p>
<p>A closer look at Liverpool’s most lucrative commercial deals reveals that the club’s owner, <a href="https://fenwaysportsgroup.com/">Fenway Sports Group</a>, which also boasts the Boston Red Sox in its portfolio, has assembled a sizeable network of entertainment businesses and properties in the US. </p>
<p>This includes <a href="https://redbirdcap.com/strategy/">RedBird Capital Partners</a>, a “high-profile dealmaker” in the professional sports world, and RedBall Acquisition Corp, spearheaded by Billy Beane (of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/">Moneyball</a> fame) and Gerry Cardinale, the co-founder of the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network.</p>
<p>Another business of note is SpringHill Company, an entertainment development and production firm headed by basketball star LeBron James, which has tennis player <a href="https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Serena_Williams/88969/serena-williams-named-to-the-board-of-lebron-james-sprnghill-entertainment/">Serena Williams</a> on the board of directors. James is also a <a href="https://www.thestandard.co.zw/2021/03/20/lebron-james-increases-stake-in-liverpool/#:%7E:text=LEBRON%20James%20has%20upped%20his%20stake%20in%20Liverpool,in%20the%20English%20Premier%20League%20champions%20since%202011.">shareholder</a> of Liverpool FC.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graphic showing business connections of Liverpool FC." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463979/original/file-20220518-23-m6htsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463979/original/file-20220518-23-m6htsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463979/original/file-20220518-23-m6htsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463979/original/file-20220518-23-m6htsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463979/original/file-20220518-23-m6htsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463979/original/file-20220518-23-m6htsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463979/original/file-20220518-23-m6htsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Liverpool FC’s financial links.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Widdop/Simon Chadwick</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though not overtly political, Liverpool’s private ownership and US focused operations embody a free market ideology that has become increasingly prominent across European football over the last two decades. </p>
<h2>Real fortunes</h2>
<p>At first glance, Real Madrid would appear to be a very different beast. The club is owned by its members – known as “socios” – who get to vote club officials into and out of office.</p>
<p>But the graphic of its commercial deals and relationship shows how closely linked to foreign wealth it has become. There are connections with <a href="https://qiddiya.com/">Qiddiya</a>, an entertainment “mega-project” under construction in Saudi Arabia, and with a Chinese bank which issues a Real Madrid branded credit card. </p>
<p>There are also commercial relationships with Abu Dhabi Bank and Emirates Airline in the UAE, Sela Sports, an event management company based in Saudi Arabia, and technology firms in South Korea and China. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graphic showing business links of Real Madrid." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463980/original/file-20220518-17-uuv6tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463980/original/file-20220518-17-uuv6tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463980/original/file-20220518-17-uuv6tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463980/original/file-20220518-17-uuv6tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463980/original/file-20220518-17-uuv6tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463980/original/file-20220518-17-uuv6tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463980/original/file-20220518-17-uuv6tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Real Madrid’s business connections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Widdop/Simon Chadwick</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Overall, there’s a lot of money invested in the two sides playing for the trophy. And the political side of the game is arguably more obvious than ever. </p>
<p>This year’s Champions League tournament started out with Russian energy giant Gazprom as a principal sponsor, with the final due to be held in Vladimir Putin’s hometown of Saint Petersburg. </p>
<p>After the invasion of Ukraine, the final was <a href="https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11945/12551034/champions-league-final-moved-to-paris-from-st-petersburg-after-russian-invasion-of-ukraine">moved to Paris</a>, and the deal with Gazprom terminated. So despite being sanitised of Russia’s influence and of fortunes made through oil and gas, the match still represents two of the key players in the modern game: politics and business.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183246/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Chadwick teaches on UEFA's Certificate in Football Management programme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Widdop does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>They may not be funded by gas and oil, but these two sides are big money players.Simon Chadwick, Global Professor of Sport | Director of Eurasian Sport, EM Lyon Business SchoolPaul Widdop, Researcher of Sport Business, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1609392021-05-27T15:37:35Z2021-05-27T15:37:35ZChampions League final 2021 – a game of two sides powered by gas and oil<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402635/original/file-20210525-19-4c4z6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=78%2C0%2C5719%2C3389&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-england-may-8-2021-manchester-1970696186">Shutterstock/kovop58</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the night of the 2021 UEFA Champions League Final, Chelsea and Manchester City will battle it out for European glory. Only one of the two English teams will walk away with the trophy – but despite the rivalry on the field, both sides have plenty in common off the pitch. </p>
<p>They were, for instance, part of a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56824628">doomed attempt</a> to usurp the very tournament they are trying to win, with the establishment of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/european-super-league-owners-have-witnessed-the-power-of-fans-and-should-listen-to-them-to-avoid-future-failure-159469">European Super League</a>. That plan, involving 12 of the biggest clubs in the world, collapsed in the face of unfiltered outrage from <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/20/football-vs-greed-what-is-behind-the-outrage-over-the-european-super-league">fans, pundits and politicians</a> – and crucially, a change of heart at Chelsea and Manchester City. </p>
<p>The Super League house of cards seems to have truly started falling when Chelsea announced its intention to <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/football/chelsea/story/4365461/chelseas-landmark-super-league-withdrawal-a-victory-that-overshadows-draw-vs-brighton">withdraw from the competition</a>. Their move was followed a few hours later by a similar <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/man-city-withdraw-european-super-league-b1834691.html">statement from City</a>. </p>
<p>There have been <a href="https://tribuna.com/en/news/chelsea-2021-04-23-putin-reportedly-behind-chelsea-withdrawal-from-super-league-for-3-key-reasons/">reports</a> that Chelsea’s U-turn was prompted by a telephone call from Russian president Vladimir Putin to his compatriot Roman Abramovich, the billionaire who owns the London club. Some media outlets have even suggested that Putin declared a super league would be <a href="https://www.rt.com/sport/522011-kremlin-abramovich-chelsea-super-league/">“against the spirit of the fatherland”</a>.</p>
<p>But however those decisions came to be made, the reality of the geopolitical and economic basis of European football is clear. And this is where the Champions League action becomes particularly interesting, especially in its associations with oil and gas. </p>
<p>Russia’s Gazprom – a corporation with origins as a state energy producer dating back to the old Soviet Union – has been a major sponsor of the competition since 2012, and has just announced a <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/0269-124ffe0cee51-2308c1da4764-1000--gazprom-partners-with-uefa-national-team-football-and-renews-ue/">big new deal with UEFA</a>.</p>
<p>Gazprom was privatised during the early 1990s reform period in Russia, but Putin’s ascent subsequently led to a majority of the company’s shares being taken back into <a href="https://www.piie.com/commentary/op-eds/folly-renationalization">state ownership</a>. Gazprom later acquired a rival energy company, the oil firm Sibneft, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2005/sep/29/oilandpetrol.russia">owned at the time by Abramovich</a>. </p>
<p>Gazprom, which is based in Putin’s home town of St Petersburg, also owns the local club, <a href="https://grantland.com/the-triangle/gazprom-zenit-st-petersburg-and-the-intersection-of-global-politics-and-world-football/">Zenit Saint Petersburg</a>. The former president of Zenit is Alexander Dyukov, a man who is also <a href="https://www.sportspromedia.com/movers-and-shakers/russian-football-president-dyukov-mutko-gazprom">president of the Russian Football Union</a>. In addition, Dyukov is chief executive of Gazprom and, in the middle of the Super League debacle, he was elected to the <a href="https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/news/0268-12163b1d0543-7ab0ff2e27b1-1000--alexander-dyukov/">executive committee of UEFA</a>.</p>
<p>If Putin really did call Abramovich about the Super League, it could be seen as yet another episode in Russia’s engagement with football as a geopolitical and diplomatic tool. </p>
<p>For many years, <a href="https://www.iris-france.org/154279-gazprom-and-its-sponsorship-of-football-from-sex-without-a-condom-to-major-strategic-threat/">some observers have wondered</a> why an organisation that sells gas to governments sits alongside the likes of McDonald’s and Coca Cola as a Champions League sponsor. But the answer to this can be found in the way that Gazprom enables Russia to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15377857.2020.1723781?journalCode=wplm20">project soft power and build legitimacy</a> through its associations with the world’s favourite game. </p>
<p>During his time as US president, <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/09/08/trump-pipeline-russia-germany-natural-gas-merkel-navalny-poisoned-nord-stream-2/">Donald Trump was bullish</a> towards Russian energy suppliers, and even imposed sanctions upon Gazprom. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-defense-congress-nord-stream-idUSKBN28E31I">Trump claimed</a> that Europe’s growing dependency on Russian energy supplies, especially in Germany (where <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-russia-has-devoted-its-energy-to-the-beautiful-game-46174">Gazprom sponsors FC Schalke 04</a>), constitutes a strategic threat to the continent’s security. The Joe Biden administration <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/05/biden-ted-cruz-russia-pipeline-473910">holds similar concerns</a>. </p>
<p>But perhaps being a sponsor of the tournament and having a strong relationship with both UEFA and Chelsea isn’t enough. For Gazprom also continues to strengthen its relations with Abu Dhabi, the small Gulf state which, via a member of its royal family, owns a majority stake in Manchester City. </p>
<h2>Gas goals</h2>
<p>Like Russia, Abu Dhabi owns some of the world’s largest carbon fuel reserves. In this sense, the Champions League final will therefore be a game powered by gas and oil.</p>
<p>Over the last decade, relations between Russia and Abu Dhabi have strengthened, leading to a series of strategic agreements, the most significant of which was <a href="https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/uae-russia-forge-strategic-partnership-1.2230246">signed in 2018</a>. <a href="https://lobelog.com/understanding-russia-and-the-uaes-special-partnership/">Described</a> as a watershed in bilateral relations, it covered all manner of issues in investment, trade, culture, space, tourism and security. </p>
<p>One outcome of this was the acquisition by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Mubadala Investment Company of a $US271 million (£191 million), 44% stake in one of Gazprom’s subsidiaries. In 2019, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company then signed a <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/energy/adnoc-signs-strategic-framework-with-russia-s-gazprom-neft-1.924222">strategic framework agreement</a> with Gazprom to explore for and extract new oil reserves. </p>
<p>This led to a <a href="https://ntc.gazprom-neft.com/press-center/news/gazprom-neft-i-mubadala-petroleum-razvivayut-tekhnologicheskoe-sotrudnichestvo/">2020 announcement</a> that Gazprom and Mubadala will engage in technological cooperation in Siberia, where coincidentally Abramovich began building his gas powered fortune.</p>
<p>Come match day, most fans of City and Chelsea will not be overly concerned by the origins of the cash that has fuelled their clubs’ success. And with talk of a super league fading and many football fans hailing its defeat, some will see the Champions League Final as a victory parade for normality.</p>
<p>But this would be naive and misguided. For football has not merely been commercialised and industrialised over the last 30 years. It has also become intensely geopolitical, and sits at the heart of a complex global network of interests and investments. Indeed, for some powerful players, the sport has become a tactically astute means to extremely lucrative other ends – as epitomised by this year’s Champions League final.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160939/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Chelsea and Manchester City have similar goals on and off the pitch.Simon Chadwick, Global Professor of Eurasian Sport | Director of Eurasian Sport, EM Lyon Business SchoolPaul Widdop, Senior Lecturer in Sport Business, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1597772021-04-27T16:50:57Z2021-04-27T16:50:57ZTop football stars: famous because they’re rich, or rich because they’re famous?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397334/original/file-20210427-21-jgiq8g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C135%2C5313%2C3388&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">On the occasion of a 2011 match between Portugal and Argentina, Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and Lionel Messi (right) show off a pair of high-end watches. The riches have only continued to flow in. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Cristiano_Ronaldo_(L),_Lionel_Messi_(R)_%E2%80%93_Portugal_vs._Argentina,_9th_February_2011_(1).jpg">Fanny Schertzer/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Football (known as soccer in the United States) is the most popular sport worldwide with <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-most-popular-sports-in-the-world.html">4 billion fans</a>, who consider it a passion and sometimes even a religion. In terms of quality and tradition of the game, Europe is considered by many as the most attractive location for talents, sponsors, investors, and fans. Such success is reflected in the total revenue generated by the top-five European football Leagues (England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) that reached, in 2020-21, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/261218/big-five-european-soccer-leagues-revenue/">18.1 billion euros</a>.</p>
<p>All that glitters is not gold, however. This upward trend has produced an inflationary effect on salaries of professional players who, contrary to their counterparts in some US professional sports, benefit from the absence of a salary cap. One representative example that recently caused a mix of admiration and outrage was the most recent four-year contract of the football star Lionel Messi, who signed in 2017 an agreement for the huge sum of <a href="https://www.marca.com/futbol/barcelona/2021/01/31/6015dd7446163fab378b45e8.html">555 million euros</a>. The costs that professional football clubs must cope with are therefore strongly challenging the sustainability business model.</p>
<p>Given the astronomic salaries of some stars, a question that many observers and fans is ask again and again: do professional football players really deserve what they’re paid?</p>
<h2>Popularity and performance</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://management-aims.com/index.php/mgmt/article/view/4511">March 2021 study</a>, carried with the co-authors Alessandro Piazza (Rice University, United States), Fabrizio Castellucci (Bocconi University, Italy) and Cyrus Mohadjer (IESEG School of Management, France), we sought to shed new light on this topic by exploring the existence of potential mismatches between players’ performance and their salaries that are generated by their level of celebrity and status.</p>
<p>Based on a dataset of 471 players from the top-five Football European Leagues during two consecutive years (2015–16 and 2016–2017), our study shows that celebrity (measured via counting and logging how many “likes” each player received by fans on their official public Facebook page) and status (measured via the number of appearances in their national team) have an impact on the relationship between players’ salaries and performance (measured by the score available on the website <a href="https://fr.whoscored.com/">Whoscored</a>). More specifically, the results show that for average performers, being popular (figure 1) and having a high status (figure 2) leads to higher salaries for the same levels of performance.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397137/original/file-20210426-17-cpnnx4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397137/original/file-20210426-17-cpnnx4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397137/original/file-20210426-17-cpnnx4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397137/original/file-20210426-17-cpnnx4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397137/original/file-20210426-17-cpnnx4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397137/original/file-20210426-17-cpnnx4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397137/original/file-20210426-17-cpnnx4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1. Interaction effect between player celebrity and performance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Giangreco et al., 2021</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397138/original/file-20210426-15-6b4uun.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397138/original/file-20210426-15-6b4uun.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397138/original/file-20210426-15-6b4uun.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397138/original/file-20210426-15-6b4uun.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397138/original/file-20210426-15-6b4uun.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397138/original/file-20210426-15-6b4uun.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397138/original/file-20210426-15-6b4uun.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 2. Interaction effect between player status and performance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Giangreco et al., 2021</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This suggests that, to maximise their salary, players may try to increase the interest of their profile and popularity through, for example, social media and the press. Indeed, popularity does not depend necessarily on players’ performance, but might be determined by their “public” lifestyle, which increases their visibility. These findings on celebrity are particularly relevant not for the best “performers”, who can still obtain high levels of compensation and visibility, but for more “average” players who, through the professional management of their social media profiles (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) could obtain higher compensation. Furthermore, higher visibility for these players might translate in higher revenues for the club (for example through merchandising, advertising and broadcasting rights) and clubs take into consideration not only players’ performance, but also their capacity, as a celebrity, to generate economic revenues in determining salary levels.</p>
<p>Furthermore, our results show that having a higher status might “shield” certain footballers from variations in performance. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>High-status players (playing regularly for their national team) appear to be less exposed to scrutiny (by fans and journalists for example).</p></li>
<li><p>Once status is acquired, it tends to remain stable, even in the face of declining quality or performance.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Our study shows, therefore, that a player’s compensation is less determined by performance when he plays regularly for the national side, as in indicator of status.</p>
<p>This result is particularly relevant for players who, at the twilight of their career, might expect a decline in their performance, or experience diminished motivation, and therefore, can benefit from a higher salary based on the quality of past performance. Players such as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo offer a level of performance that guarantees their level of salary, so that they are celebrity and have high status because they are top performers, although we may expect that in the last part of their career, their performances will be less scrutinised. </p>
<p>The results of our study suggest that this does not necessarily happen for average performers, who by becoming more famous (through social media and by having played for their national team), then might become richer.</p>
<h2>Resources and rationality</h2>
<p>Our results provide insights for the debate about a more rational use of the decreasing resources available in the football industry, an issue that became of global interest in relation to the recent failed attempt of 12 top clubs to create an alternative European Super League. The lack of resources has been recently acknowledged by UEFA that has suspended the application of the “financial fair play” for the current season, given the effect of the pandemic on the revenues of professional clubs. Observers, however, <a href="https://myfootballmaniac.com/top-10-european-clubs-with-the-biggest-debt/">argued</a> that the debts of many professional football clubs, such as Manchester United, Atlético Madrid, Galatasaray or Juventus, were at a worrying level even before the pandemic.</p>
<p>Our conclusions could also be relevant for other different contexts and sectors that are exposed to high levels of public attention, such as CEOs in different business settings, creative directors in industries such as film and fashion, or chefs. Since the public profile is not always linked to actors’ “job-related performance”, organisations should be aware that actors considered for their celebrity might be hired for the attention and publicity that they might bring to the organisation. This, in turn, might result in higher revenues for organisations which may be willing to pay higher salaries to actors who do not necessarily directly affect organisational results through their individual performance.</p>
<p>A notable example is what happened when Chiara Ferragni, an entrepreneur and fashion influencer, <a href="https://ww.fashionnetwork.com/news/Share-price-for-tod-s-flies-after-chiara-ferragni-joins-board,1293751.html">joined the board of Tods</a>, an Italian Fashion company. Tod’s share price, which was earlier capped, saw an increase of 12%, reaching the value of €32.24, the highest since March 2020.</p>
<p>Thus, even in the upper reaches of the sports world, the centuries-old question remains: do clothes make the (wo)man?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159777/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>A new study explores the how the celebrity and status of professional footballers in the “Big Five” European leagues can affect both performance and pay.Antonio Giangreco, Full Professor in HRM & OB, IÉSEG School of ManagementBarbara Slavich, Professor of Management, IÉSEG School of ManagementLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1593162021-04-20T12:35:52Z2021-04-20T12:35:52ZThe ups and downs of European soccer are part of its culture – moving to a US-style ‘closed’ Super League would destroy that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395883/original/file-20210419-15-7mlgt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=185%2C0%2C1911%2C1072&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Super League plans have fans screaming into the void, like soccer star Lionel Messi here.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/barcelonas-argentinian-forward-lionel-messi-reacts-during-news-photo/125614181?adppopup=true">Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A dozen of the world’s biggest soccer clubs – including Barcelona, Manchester United and Liverpool FC – announced on April 18, 2021, that they are forming a new European super league, underwritten by a reported <a href="https://apnews.com/article/uefa-could-ban-super-league-players-euro-2020-world-cup-749ce4257b0f9a17b3fc34d60cccd00c">US$5.5 billion in funding from banking giant</a> J.P. Morgan Chase. The competition – membership in which is expected to expand to 20 teams – would supersede the <a href="https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/">UEFA Champions League</a>, which is the competition in which these top-tier teams usually compete.</p>
<p>The clubs have two motives for creating this breakaway league. First, the proposal would <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/explainer-how-will-the-new-european-super-league-work">significantly increase the number of games played among big clubs</a> from different countries. This would likely attract huge global audiences and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56800611">significantly increase revenues</a> – to be split among the member clubs. Second, the intention is that the founder clubs would be guaranteed a place in the league regardless of how they performed in the previous season. In contrast, clubs have to earn their place in the Champions League and all European national leagues. </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.kines.umich.edu/directory/stefan-szymanski">expert on sports management</a>, co-author of the book “<a href="https://www.boldtypebooks.com/titles/simon-kuper/soccernomics/9781568588865/">Soccernomics</a>,” and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/economicpolicy/article-abstract/14/28/204/2366354">someone who predicted the super league some 22 years ago</a>, I can appreciate the benefit of more games. UEFA, the governing body for European soccer, was itself about to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2940389-report-uefa-to-expand-champions-league-to-36-teams-after-super-league-formation">announce a revamped version</a> of the Champions League with more games for the big clubs. It is, I believe, a reasonable response to the level of demand.</p>
<p>But the desire of the elites to insulate themselves from competition and enhance profitability is much more questionable. And it is here that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/soccer-uefa-holds-crisis-meeting-after-breakaway-super-league-launched-2021-04-19/">much of the backlash</a> has been directed.</p>
<h2>A sporting world leagues apart</h2>
<p>To an <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcedelman/2021/04/19/european-super-league-brings-lucrative-us-sports-model-overseas/">American audience</a>, the move might seem uncontroversial, but to Europeans it represents a fundamental breach with tradition and has raised enormous passions.</p>
<p>All major <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcedelman/2021/04/19/european-super-league-brings-lucrative-us-sports-model-overseas/">professional leagues in North America are “closed”</a> leagues; obtaining entry to a league is secured by payment of a franchise fee, which for the major leagues would amount to billions of dollars nowadays. </p>
<p>But soccer leagues in Europe have always been “open” leagues. Divisions are ranked according to a recognized hierarchy – the best teams play in the top league, the next-best group in the second, and so on.</p>
<p>Every season the best-performing teams in lower divisions obtain promotion to the next league up, while the worst-performing teams are relegated to the next tier down. This promotion-and-relegation system characterizes the organization of soccer in almost every country in the world, with the U.S. being a notable exception.</p>
<p>The European Commission has <a href="https://www.sportaustria.at/fileadmin/Inhalte/Dokumente/Internationales/EU_European_Model_Sport.pdf">long described the system</a> as “one of the key features of the European model of sport.”</p>
<p>Americans are often puzzled by the commitment of Europeans to this promotion-and-relegation system. After all, promoted teams can be uncompetitive, ensuring relegation 12 months later. And a team currently playing in the fourth tier of its national league system is very unlikely to play in the Champions League – not soon, and probably not ever.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, fans of these <a href="https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/soccer-super-league-could-hurt-smaller-clubs-sports-finance-expert">small clubs</a> responded to news of the Super League with outrage. The belief that one’s team, no matter how small, can make it to the top tier, playing against the best clubs – regardless of the fact that the odds are stacked against this – is a dream many smaller clubs cling to. It is the soccer equivalent of the American dream.</p>
<p>And versions of this dream have happened. The English club Leicester City <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2002/oct/22/newsstory.sport5">went into bankruptcy in 2002</a> and was relegated to the third tier in 2008 – but won the <a href="https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/15447878/putting-leicester-city-5000-1-odds-perspective-other-long-shots-espn-chalk">Premier League at odds of 5,000-1</a> in 2016, guaranteeing it a place among the European elite in the Champions League the following year.</p>
<h2>An own goal?</h2>
<p>Without the opportunity to rise up the system, the European soccer system will end up much like baseball in America – a sport dominated by one major league, controlling a collection of minor league teams, with no lower-level competition to speak of.</p>
<p>But baseball in the U.S. needn’t have taken that direction. A century ago, <a href="https://www.hpb.com/products/baseball-the-golden-age-9780195059137">American baseball was more like European soccer</a> – every town of any size had a team playing in a league that commanded significant local interest. History books tell us that these teams and leagues were <a href="http://doi.org/10.1353/nin.2004.0059">killed off by radio and TV</a>, giving fans access to a higher level of competition that was deemed to be more attractive to watch.</p>
<p>But that’s not quite the whole story. Europe got radio and TV too, but every small town has its own team competing in a league at some level in the hierarchy. These teams did not die when people were able to watch higher-quality soccer on TV – because these teams embodied the one quality that lies at the core of both sport and human survival: hope. Ask any fans of a small club about whether their team could one day rise to the top, and they will likely tell you that they believe.</p>
<p>What Europeans fear, and loathe, about the proposed Super League is that it will be a first step toward ending the promotion-and-relegation system, which to supporters across the continent amounts to saying that it is the first step toward extinguishing hope.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Manchester United fans unfurl a banner against the Glazer ownership of the club." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395887/original/file-20210419-19-14oxm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395887/original/file-20210419-19-14oxm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395887/original/file-20210419-19-14oxm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395887/original/file-20210419-19-14oxm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395887/original/file-20210419-19-14oxm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395887/original/file-20210419-19-14oxm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395887/original/file-20210419-19-14oxm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Opposition to Manchester United’s American owner was evident even before the Super League announcement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/manchester-united-fans-unfurl-a-banner-against-the-glazer-news-photo/463776989?adppopup=true">Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>It is also not lost on European fans that three of the prime movers of the Super League are American owners of major franchises – the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european-super-league-neville-manchester-united-b1834029.html">Glazer family</a>, which owns both Manchester United and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/483802-liverpool-sold-after-years-of-uncertainty-to-boston-red-sox-owner-john-henry">John Henry</a>, Liverpool and Boston Red Sox owner; and Arsenal and Colorado Avalanche owner <a href="https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/stan-kroenke-arsenal-mikel-arteta-20418137">Stan Kroenke</a>.</p>
<p>The proposed Super League would in all likelihood increase both their profits and their power within the game. Already, the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9488185/UEFA-official-fans-slam-snake-American-billionaire-team-owners-European-Super-League.html">backlash has featured an element of anti-Americanism</a>. And given the high feelings across Europe to this proposal, that could become very ugly.</p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159316/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefan Szymanski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More competitive games between top soccer clubs is desirable but creating a ‘closed’ system would harm a soccer culture built on dreams, says the man who predicted the Super League two decades ago.Stefan Szymanski, Professor of Sport Management, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1426912020-08-07T10:30:22Z2020-08-07T10:30:22ZChampions League: what you need to know about Man City, ‘sportswashing’ and future of Financial Fair Play<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53671401">Champions League is back</a> underway, after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Manchester City have successfully appealed a ruling that would have seen them banned from the competition and are resuming their bid to win the most coveted trophy in European football. </p>
<p>The club recently saw off one of their biggest challenges in recent years – a 20-month <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/man-city-ban-champions-league-fine-uefa-financial-fair-play-rules-a9336866.html">legal battle</a> with European football’s governing body UEFA.</p>
<p>In July, the <a href="https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_6785_Decision.pdf">Court of Arbitration for Sport</a> (CAS), an international body established to settle sports-related disputes, found in favour of City’s appeal against sanctions for “serious breaches” of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations committed between 2012 and 2016.</p>
<p>The decision meant that a two-year ban from European competition was overturned, but it came up short of full exoneration with a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53387306">€30 million fine reduced to €10 million</a>. This, CAS said, reflected the club’s culpability to the lesser charge of failing to cooperate with UEFA’s club financial control body. </p>
<p>The more serious allegation of “dishonest concealment” of revenue attracted from sponsorship deals – otherwise known as financial doping – was thrown out, much to the delight of the Abu Dhabi-owned club. <a href="https://www.mancity.com/news/club/club-statement-uefa-cas-verdict-63730222">City officials thanked CAS</a> for its “due diligence and due process” claiming “validation of the club’s position”.</p>
<h2>Why this happened</h2>
<p>In 2009, UEFA proposed FFP to try and curb European clubs’ inflationary spending on player transfers and wages. The new rules were rolled out on a staggered basis from 2012 with full implementation by 2015 and a “break-even” requirement as the main pillar of financial discipline.</p>
<p>As FFP would ultimately prevent wealthy owners from bankrolling clubs from their own vast resources, it was telling how in 2010-2011 City recorded English football’s biggest ever financial loss of £197 million a year before winning a first league title for nearly 40 years.</p>
<p>The club was sanctioned for FFP breaches in 2014 when the rules had come into force, albeit £33 million of a £49 million fine was returned three years later as City met with operational and financial measures put in place by UEFA. </p>
<p>It was thought that increased commercial revenue from Man City’s improved success had helped the club turn its losses into profit to now comply with FFP. That is until <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/international/manchester-city-exposed-bending-the-rules-to-the-tune-of-millions-a-1236346.html">leaked documents</a> alleged City had misled UEFA by inflating the value and disguising the true financial source of some commercial deals that led back to the club’s owners.</p>
<h2>Reputation and relations</h2>
<p>CAS’ recent ruling, based on <a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-city-cas-verdict-ffp-18678521">“insufficient evidence” and “time-barred” dealings</a>, has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/14/a-good-day-for-football-pep-guardiola-defends-manchester-city-cas-verdict">left many frustrated</a>. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp described the decision as “bad for football”, while Tottenham’s Jose Mourinho branded it “disgraceful”.</p>
<p>Bullish to the end, City boss Pep Guardiola insists his club deserves an apology. “We were damaged,” said the Spaniard. “The people say we cheated and were lying – and many times. The presumption of innocence wasn’t there.”</p>
<p>The significance of Guardiola’s point about damage to reputation should not be understated. While a two-year Champions League ban could have left a £200m hole in City’s revenues, money is perhaps not the primary motive for multi-billionaire football club owners from territories such as Abu Dhabi.</p>
<p>Research suggests that what appeals to the owners of some of the world’s biggest football clubs are so-called “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19406940.2014.966135">soft power gains</a>”. Or in other words, countries whose political and human rights records have drawn criticism in the past, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13600826.2013.827632">like to invest heavily in elite sport</a>.</p>
<p>Countries such as Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and China have all increasingly aligned themselves with elite sports and mega-sports events in the pursuit of improved international relations and geopolitical acceptance. This is sometimes referred to as “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/sportswashing-newcastle-takeover-latest-man-city-ffp-a9557241.html">sportswashing</a>” their image. </p>
<h2>Final whistle for FFP?</h2>
<p>For parent company City Football Group then, whose pan-global interests stretch from Manchester to Mumbai, New York to Melbourne and Yokohama to Sichuan, Girona, Lommel and Montevideo, reputational damage could have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02614367.2014.964291">far-reaching and lasting effect</a>.“ </p>
<p>Nonetheless, there are those who believe the CAS decision <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/man-city-ban-uefa-champions-league-news-ffp-a9615846.html">has undermined FFP</a> to the point of no return and that the balance of power has shifted towards super-rich clubs intent on outspending their rivals regardless of cost. </p>
<p>But there are others who feel the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/13/manchester-city-cas-decision-not-mean-end-of-financial-fair-play-uefa">system is not completely broken</a>. UEFA, for one, might point to how Europe’s top leagues have generated more than €4.3 billion in operating profits over the past five years. This is in stark contrast to combined operating losses of more than €740 million reported in the five years from 2009 prior to FFP. </p>
<p>As proponents will say the system works if everyone plays by the same rules, opponents claim FFP serves simply to maintain the traditional economic status quo in European football – old money preventing new money from joining an exclusive elite. </p>
<p>Time will tell what the fallout really means for club ownership, FFP and <a href="https://www.footballbenchmark.com/documents/files/UEFA%20Club%20Licensing%20Benchmarking%20report_2020_FY%202018.pdf">UEFA</a>. For now, Manchester City will rest safe in the knowledge that regardless of how they fare in this season’s delayed Champions League competition, they will be sat at the top table again next year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Randles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>City can rest safe in the knowledge that should they win this season’s delayed Champions League competition, they will get the opportunity to defend the title next year.David Randles, Senior Lecturer in Sports Journalism, Liverpool John Moores UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1306462020-02-21T07:51:43Z2020-02-21T07:51:43ZManchester City and Saracens – economic theory in action<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/51309898">Saracens salary cap scandal</a> and news that Manchester City allegedly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/feb/15/manchester-city-premier-league-sanctions-ffp-breaches">breached UEFA’s financial fairplay</a> rules have threatened the integrity of the clubs and the sports respectively. But it should not come as a great surprise. Economic theory predicts that if the rewards are high enough, then there will always be those who are willing to take risks to circumvent the regulations. </p>
<p>In January Saracens, the reigning Premiership rugby champions, were handed a further 70-point deduction which will ensure they finish bottom of the table. The club were initially docked 35 points and fined £5.36 million for breaching the cap between 2016 and 2019 and were subsequently relegated after being unable to prove they could meet the £7 million cap on wages for this season.</p>
<p>In the world of football Manchester City could face sanctions in the Premier League, potentially being docked points, for the similar alleged <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/29361839">Financial Fair Play</a> breaches that resulted in UEFA imposing a two-year ban from the Champions League and €30 million fine (the club is appealing the ruling).</p>
<p>Sports teams have always been deeply embedded in social and cultural life. But the perceived economic role of sports teams, and their economic analysis, is a more recent development in the UK. Unlike US team sports, which adopted a commercial model at their inception, professionalism in team sports in the UK developed over the 19th and 20th centuries – with Rugby Union only becoming professional in 1995. A key driver of this change and the heightened commercialism of team sports was the rapid <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/152700250000100304?casa_token=AEuFekT_JD0AAAAA:X6fudGdHJluu-TSzaO1YL8qBwG_CQkQmere0AZoC0TAR2hEKdP2sJPEnVJXLWl5oKrQe47DbGot9vQ">expansion of the broadcast market</a> in the mid-1980s. </p>
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<p>Unlike other industries, sports are governed in two domains. International and national governing bodies have always overseen sporting organisation and rules of competition. But the growth in commercial activities has increasingly brought the economic activity of sports under the scrutiny of competition regulation. Examples of this are the rulings associated with <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2334154/Sky-TV-monopoly-shown-the-red-card.html">TV broadcast rights</a>, and the <a href="https://penguincompaniontoeu.com/additional_entries/bosman-case/">Bosman Ruling in 1995</a> which removed restrictions, like transfer fees, on out-of-contract footballers (and by implication other sportspeople) moving between clubs in Europe. </p>
<p>This ruling contributed to the international freedom of movement of players and the rapid globalisation of the players labour market in team sports. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2003/aug/06/rugbyunion.paulrees">The subsequent Kolpak ruling</a>, extended the rules to countries with European Union Association Agreements and was particularly important for Rugby Union and cricket in drawing playing talent from Commonwealth nations. </p>
<h2>Economic peculiarities</h2>
<p>The impact of such rulings and the presence of regulations such as the salary cap and Financial Fair Play stem from long recognised peculiarities of the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/78/1/1/1854464">economics of sport</a>. </p>
<p>Two key peculiarities are that sports teams and leagues rely primarily on their players to deliver their sporting success (other resources cannot be substituted for them if their wages rise). Sporting success also requires the existence of a meaningful opponent. This is an example of an <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230523210_6">externality</a> in which one team’s actions, such as the hiring of players, has an impact on another’s in the league. This will ultimately influence their relative sporting performance. </p>
<p>Another feature of this externality is that while fans want their own team to be successful, governing bodies must balance the interests of all teams in the league because a concentration of success <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527002503257321">undermines interest</a> in the sport as a whole. It can also have a knock-on effect on how much interest and revenue can be generated, collectively, for the league. </p>
<p>These peculiarities have underpinned the regulations in the labour market that do not exist in other industries. The salary cap in rugby union is an example of such a regulation and it aims to restrict player wage increases, making players in principle affordable for all teams and to produce financial stability for the league. The logic is that if left to pure market forces “arms races” for the best playing talent take place. This has been shown most pointedly in the football Premier League and explosive demand-driven <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/press-releases/articles/premier-league-clubs-revenues-reach-a-record.html">increases in player wages</a> that track team revenues in the absence of a cap. </p>
<p>These wage increases may be fully justified by the player’s productivity in delivering success and [attracting revenue]. Research in sports <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=SPorts+Economic+s&btnG=">has shown</a> that player wages tend to match their on-field “productivity” in the absence of regulations.</p>
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<p>But general wage growth reflects how some clubs try to compete beyond their means in seeking to attract better players. The fact is that sporting success and revenue growth are highly uncertain, as they also depend on opponent performances (some teams have to lose, after all). A failure of teams to cover increased wage costs leads to financial vulnerability. It is now not uncommon for teams to go into administration, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49451896">just as Championship side Bury FC</a> did in 2019. </p>
<p>The salary cap breaches <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-7651375/How-Sportsmails-investigation-led-Saracens-35-point-deduction-5m-fine.html">by Saracens</a> show that the concentration of high levels of playing talent – due to unequal spending – can drive individual club success at the expense of others. </p>
<p>It is also interesting to note that the breaches were revealed by <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-7651375/How-Sportsmails-investigation-led-Saracens-35-point-deduction-5m-fine.html">investigative journalism</a> which highlights another point long made <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2729122?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">by sports economists</a> – enforcing salary caps is difficult because, like all taxes, evasion and avoidance strategies can be adopted.</p>
<p>A damaging outcome of these scandals is that the integrity of sport is challenged. The impact that this has on the image of players and sport in general should not be understated. In an era in which rugby is facing enough challenges in recruiting participants and facing concerns about <a href="https://search.proquest.com/docview/2114161478?pq-origsite=gscholar">player health</a>, the last thing it needs are for its shining stars to be tarnished. </p>
<p>Saracens’ punishment, then, may seem lenient when compared to what Manchester City could face. But moving forward, more transparent accounting and reporting on the finances of all clubs are going to be needed. Immediate action and more stringent and severe punishments will be the best way to stop the cheating.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Downward does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Financial scandals have damaged the integrity of both clubs. With the rewards for cheating so high, harsher punishments are needed.Paul Downward, Professor of Economics, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/978822018-06-13T14:27:15Z2018-06-13T14:27:15ZA head injury could cost a footballer more than the World Cup<p>Liverpool goalkeeper, Loris Karius, made crucial errors during the recent Champions League final, including throwing the ball to Real Madrid striker, Karim Benzema. Five days after the match, Karius was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44367148">diagnosed with concussion</a>. </p>
<p>Head injuries can have more serious consequences than losing an important match or <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43057859">ending a career</a>, however. In Europe, it is the <a href="https://www.center-tbi.eu/">leading cause of death in young adults</a>, and football players could be a particularly vulnerable group.</p>
<p>About 1% of people who suffer a blow to the head have life-threatening injuries (mainly bleeding in the brain) and need <a href="https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg176/ifp/chapter/Head-injuries">advanced medical treatment</a>, sometimes including brain surgery. About 30% of people develop concussion – a catch-all term that describes impaired brain function due to head injury – with a range of symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and dizziness, as well as impaired thinking that <a href="https://patient.info/health/post-concussion-syndrome">can last months</a>. But most people who suffer a blow to the head have no lasting ill effects. The problem is that all three groups can initially appear the same. </p>
<p>When a patient is admitted to an emergency department (A&E) with a head injury, a structured assessment and brain scans are used to identify patients who may have life-threatening injuries. However, despite a ton of research in this area, we still can’t reliably predict who will develop concussion. </p>
<p>If a patient injures their head again, while concussed, it can lead to a catastrophic worsening of their symptoms. So the standard advice in the UK is that all patients with head injuries should avoid contact sports for two to four weeks following injury, and they should seek further medical attention if their symptoms persist.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222979/original/file-20180613-32339-f1qws1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222979/original/file-20180613-32339-f1qws1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222979/original/file-20180613-32339-f1qws1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222979/original/file-20180613-32339-f1qws1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222979/original/file-20180613-32339-f1qws1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222979/original/file-20180613-32339-f1qws1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222979/original/file-20180613-32339-f1qws1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jamie Roberts played for 15 minutes with a fractured skull.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27655256">Blackcat/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Assessing a player, pitch side, in the middle of a competitive football match, is a very different challenge, though. Without the benefit of CT scans, the medic must first determine whether the player has a potentially life-threatening injury that needs hospital treatment. Then they must determine whether the player has a concussion and cannot play on. </p>
<p>The symptoms of concussion may not be immediately apparent, making it difficult to diagnose. This difficulty was demonstrated in the case of Jamie Roberts, the Welsh international rugby player, who played on for 15 minutes in 2008 with a fractured skull, after passing a pitch-side medical assessment.</p>
<p>Most footballers who suffer a blow to the head will have no underlying brain injury. A balance must be found that protects player welfare and allows players to safely play on when possible. </p>
<h2>Lessons from rugby union</h2>
<p>This is an area where football could learn from rugby. In August 2015, rugby union introduced a head injury assessment that outlines criteria for the immediate assessment and removal of players with a head injury, pitch side, and for the identification of delayed concussion symptoms. </p>
<p>Identifying head injury in rugby union is perhaps easier, as it’s a full contact sport and <a href="http://www.espn.co.uk/football/blog/fifa/243/post/3091640/video-assistant-referees-football-can-learn-from-rugby-cricket-tennis-nfl">recently introduced pitch-side video assisted referees</a>. The UK Football Association, to its credit, has released recent guidance recommending that head-injured players who have periods of loss of consciousness should be removed from play. FIFA might also want to consider strengthening its position on head injuries in football. Extending existing guidelines to include the assessment of delayed concussion symptoms would be helpful. </p>
<p>Hopefully, greater awareness in football will equip coaches and the medical support team to recognise when a player has been affected by a head injury and empower them to remove the athlete from play.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97882/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carl Marincowitz is funded by a National Institute for Health Research Doctoral Fellowship.
This article presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Garrett received funding from the João Havelange Research Scholarship (FIFA) in 2015. Investigating the health and safety of female footballers, as they adapt to playing in hot conditions. </span></em></p>Football could take a leaf from rugby union’s book on how to treat head-injured players, pitch side.Carl Marincowitz, NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow, University of HullAndrew Garrett, Lecturer in Exercise and Environmental Physiology, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/798562017-07-02T08:37:11Z2017-07-02T08:37:11ZWhy African fans love European football - a Senegalese perspective<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175826/original/file-20170627-24782-7bkqjt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The local game in Senegal is underdeveloped.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Hann/GLOBALSPORT</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Casillas throws the ball to Thuram, standing on the edge of his penalty area. The big defender passes to Zidane, who turns and dribbles past two opponents before playing a precise through-ball for Iniesta, who lays it on for Alves on the right wing. Alves curls in an accurate cross, Tevez rises at the far post to meet it with a powerful header – goal!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This may sound like the commentary for a testimonial or charity match, at which an all-star team of football legends past and present line up for a good cause. But at this match there are no supporters cheering the players on. There are no TV cameras recording the play, and not even a single blade of grass on the pitch. </p>
<p>And Frenchmen <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/04/zinedine-zidane-manager-more-successful-player-real-madrid-champions-league">Zinedine Zidane</a> and <a href="http://www.thuram.org/site/en/the-foundation/who-is-lilian-thuram/">Lilian Thuram</a>, Brazilian <a href="http://www.eurosport.com/football/dani-alves_prs206480/person.shtml">Dani Alves</a>, Argentinian <a href="http://www.goal.com/en/news/8/main/2017/05/14/35504562/introverted-tevez-has-been-a-colossal-waste-of-money-for">Carlos Tevez</a>, and Spaniards <a href="http://www.goal.com/en-za/people/spain/1219/iker-casillas">Iker Casillas</a> and <a href="https://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/staff/players/2016-2017/a-iniesta">Andrés Iniesta</a> – fabled names from the upper echelons of European football – are nowhere to be seen. </p>
<p>Instead it’s Ameth “Zidane”, Mbaye “Thuram”, Mamadou “Alves”, Saliou “Tevez”, Mohamed “Casillas” and Abdou “Iniesta”, all nicknamed after those footballing icons. We are in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, on a dusty pitch, watching a cup game between two local under-19 teams.</p>
<p>In Senegal European football is hugely popular. While local league teams play in almost deserted stadia, audiences crowd around televisions to follow the latest matches of the English <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/">Premier League</a>, the Spanish <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/laligafootball">La Liga</a>, or the pan-European <a href="http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/">UEFA Champions League</a>. </p>
<p>The latest goals, controversies and transfers in Europe are the subject of passionate debate and discussion on the streets of Dakar. By contrast, the local leagues attract hardly any interest. This is true in very many African countries. But I explore what lies behind this discrepancy in Senegal. As well as why a nation so in thrall to the beautiful game seemingly ignores the major competitions taking place on their own doorstep? </p>
<h2>Why the big attraction</h2>
<p>There are a number of reasons.</p>
<p>Jean Bertin Uwarugaba, a telecoms engineer of Rwandan origin who has lived in Senegal for over two decades, provided me with one obvious answer: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The local game is underdeveloped. It’s not attractive, because there are no historical rivalries between the teams.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>With the <a href="http://sociologicalimagination.org/archives/1946/comment-page-1">deregulation of football broadcasting</a> since the 1990s, the European game has become accessible and affordable to many Africans, especially those living in urban areas. Why should people consume a sub-par product when they can watch the elite level of the game in the comfort of their own homes? </p>
<p>Dakar-based Uwarugaba is a fanatical fan of top English club <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/chelsea?INTCMP=searchAutoComp">Chelsea</a>. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I first started watching European football around 1999, in particular <a href="https://www.om.net/en">Olympique Marseille</a>. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/didier-drogba">Didier Drogba</a> emerged as the leader of that team. After Drogba’s transfer to Chelsea in 2004, I started following the Premier League. I’ve been a fan of Chelsea ever since.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another reason is the growing presence of African football stars in the top European leagues. This is certainly a big attraction. The Ivorian superstars Drogba and <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/players/4148/Yaya-Tour%C3%A9/overview">Yaya Touré</a>, or the Cameroonian striker <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/08/samuel-etoo-world-cup-2010">Samuel Eto'o</a> are icons to fans in Senegal. There’s particular pride at the emergence of exciting young Senegalese players such as Liverpool’s <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/players/6519/Sadio-Man%C3%A9/overview">Sadio Mané</a>, Lazio’s Keita Baldé Diao or <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/kalidou-koulibaly">Kalidou Koulibaly</a> who’s playing for Napoli. </p>
<p>However, the two most popular clubs in Senegal at the moment are the Spanish giants, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/barcelona">FC Barcelona</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/realmadrid">Real Madrid</a>, neither of whom currently has an African player in their first team squad – other than the Cameroonian born French international <a href="https://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/news/2016-2017/10-essential-facts-about-new-fc-barcelona-signing-samuel-umtiti">Samuel Umtiti</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175834/original/file-20170627-24746-4z6a39.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Top league matches in Senegal are normally poorly attended.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Hann/GLOBALSPORT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Specific local context of football</h2>
<p>In Senegal, perhaps, the reason for this European obsession can be found by exploring the specific context of football – and sport – in the country. It’s worth looking at one local exception that attracts as much passion and fervour as the European giants – the navétanes inter-district championship, which includes the aforementioned team containing the illustrious names of Casillas, Zidane and Tevez. Saliou “Tevez” is the team’s centre forward, a fast and athletic young man who dreams of a career in Europe.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I played in the local navétanes team. Everyone started calling me Tevez, because I played like [Argentine player] Carlos Tevez. I worked hard, I scored goals, I was technical. We won the cup that year. Everyone in the neighbourhood knows me as Tevez.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Saliou’s exploits in the inter-district team are a reminder that there is a local football competition which ignites the passions and loyalties of Senegalese fans. It just isn’t the official league championship.</p>
<p>The navétanes championships take their name from the Wolof “nawet”, referring to the rainy season, and it’s primarily during these summer months that they take place. Since the 1950s, local teams have competed against one another to defend the honour and pride of the neighbourhood or village, and the navétanes matches often attract huge crowds. </p>
<p>Much is at stake: violent altercations and accusations of occult activity among fans are often reported, making the competition resemble Senegal’s other hugely popular sport of <a href="https://theconversation.com/senegalese-wrestle-with-ethnicity-while-reaching-for-dreams-of-success-66073?sr=1">wrestling</a> known for being saturated in magico-religious practices. The popularity of the navétanes championships and the national wrestling arena demonstrate that there’s a large appetite for local sports competitions.</p>
<p>The high demand for European football comes in addition to, not instead of, sport at the local level. </p>
<p>Ultimately, they represent two very different things. The navétanes championships, like wrestling, offer a visceral experience of sporting competition which is rooted in complex local meanings, regional loyalties and historical rivalries. In contrast, the viewing of European football matches on TV allows African fans to partake in the aspirational dreams exported worldwide by the Premier League or the Champions League.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175837/original/file-20170627-24741-1aq3rwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many young Senegalese boys dream of playing for big European clubs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Hann/GLOBALSPORT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether as a consumer, like Uwarugaba, or as a player, in the case of Saliou “Tevez”, there is a strong desire to participate in the football economy at the highest level. In this context, the local league championships are neither here nor there. They lack the passionate support of the navétanes teams, but are also unable to pay competitive salaries necessary to attract the best players. </p>
<p>In a sense, the popularity of European football in Africa is a direct consequence of neoliberal economic transformations, the liberalisation of media and the influx of satellite broadcasting into the African market. The commodification and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/as-the-premier-league-sells-its-wares-in-south-africa-the-local-league-will-suffer-9222573.html">marketing</a> of European football to an African audience generates profits for telecommunications companies based in the global North, thus exacerbating inequalities and restricting the growth potential of the local game.</p>
<p>But, as pervasive as the globalisation of football may be, there is no denying the genuine passion it inspires among its African fans, and the creative ways in which the global game is incorporated into local narratives. </p>
<p><em>This article is based on research conducted as part of the <a href="http://global-sport.eu/">GLOBALSPORT</a> project based at the University of Amsterdam and funded by the European Research Council.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79856/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Hann receives funding from the European Research Council. </span></em></p>European football matches allow African fans to partake in the aspirational dreams exported worldwide by the Premier League or the Champions League.Mark Hann, Doctoral student in Anthropology, University of AmsterdamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.