Is Money Ruining The Beautiful Game?

Name: Tahmid Ahmad
ID: 24101177
Sec: 06

In 1863, the Football Association (FA) was formed in England, marking the birth of organized and professional football in the world as we know it. Since then, football has changed a lot. From the introduction of red/yellow cards and the offside rule, to VAR being applied currently in professional games, football has went through many iterations of changes.

However, one significant change that has impacted football the most and has changed the entire landscape of professional, organized play is the introduction of money into this sports.

Although not one entity is solely responsible for this change, the earliest hallmark of money being splashed into this game is in 2001 when Spanish giants Real Madrid spent €76 million on the transfer of Zinedine Zidane from Italian powerhouse Juventus.

Zinedine Zidane after signing for Real Madrid.

This was a ludicrous amount of money for the sport at that time. The most expensive transfer fee before that was Luis Figo from Barcelona to Real Madrid- and that was €37 million. Not only did Real Madrid break the bank for Zidane, but they did it in fashion, breaking the previous transfer record by almost twice the amount. To put it into perspective, €76 million in 2001 would be worth €124 million in today's market, showing just how absurd that transfer fee was.

Regardless, people thought that would only be a one-time thing and it proved to be true for 8 years before Real Madrid once again broke the transfer record by signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for €94 million in 2009 and Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspurs for €100 million in 2013, starting the era of clubs spending 100s of millions on player transfers.

Since then, the transfer record has been broken multiple times but none was more significant than PSG signing Neymar Jr from FC Barcelona for €222 million in 2017, which till this date remains the most expensive football transfer of all time. 

Neymar Jr. being unveiled at the Parc des Princes to PSG fans.

With more money being thrown into the game, we now have better training facilities, better stadiums, better viewing experiences and just more people who now have access to watching football worldwide.

However, money has also brought about some major adverse effects to football. One serious complication that comes with big clubs spending 100s of millions on player signings is the effect it has on the smaller clubs who are usually supported by their local fanbase. Such clubs are usually unable to retain their best players and can almost never breakthrough to the upper echelon of clubs due to not having the funds required to operate at that level.

However, even with spending tons of money, you're not guaranteed to win. One prominent example of that is English giants Manchester United, and their slow decline over the years.

The 13-times record Premier League winners have not won a single major title since their last Premier League win in the 2012-13 season. They are one of the clubs who have spent the most amount on player transfers but have been unable to find any relevant success.

Manchester United players after losing the Europa League final to Villareal on penalties.

Higher transfer fees also signify higher wages and Manchester United have recurrently been the club with the highest wages despite not having any achievements to back it up. This stagnation of the club has led to them being in almost €500 million in debt, a massive amount of money, even for a club like United.

With sports betting becoming more and more popular, it has incurred severe gambling addictions in people that have driven many to despair and poverty. The Premier League is the most popular football league to bet on as it has the most viewers and is the most lucrative league. There have been multiple instances of people spending upwards of 6 digit figures on a single game resulting in them losing their houses and property.

Footballers are also less incentivized to play for heart and passion, and instead are encouraged to chase after wealth and fame, resulting in an overall lack of loyalty to the club and diminished connections with fans, on whom the sport is built on.

Many people are dissatisfied with the current state of professional football and look to change the landscape by focusing more on grassroots football and supporting their locals since they feel they can forge a better connection with those players and the experience is far more enjoyable.

Money has proved to be an obvious benefit to the game but it also has brought about changes, many of which are negative and ruin the enjoyability of the beautiful game. We can only pray that the officials start to investigate and keep things in line before the sport is completely changed from where it originally began.