Pelé, David Beckham, Thierry Henry in the United States; Robert Pirès, David Trezeguet, Alessandro Del Piero in India; Romario, Franck Leboeuf and even Lisandro López in Qatar… These new championships make their voices heard in world football. But what is the real problem for these clubs and for the countries? Situation.
What’s new in the West?
The 2014 World Cup highlighted the development of the round ball on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean: the famous football. The Americans, led by their goalkeeper Tim Howard, finished second in their group in the group stage before being eliminated by Belgium in the round of 16. A journey followed by millions of viewers in the land of American football, baseball and basketball. As a result, the local championship – Major League Soccer (MLS) – has joined the basic system of American sports: that of franchises. A competition format that reflects what is done in all North American sports: a championship without promoted or relegated clubs. And to achieve his goals, football Made in the USA could count on the presence of international stars such as David Beckham, former Los Angeles Galaxy player and recent owner of a franchise in Miami.
620,000 euros per month in India
On October 12, the eyes of the football world were on India, who finally saw the start of the Indian Super League after almost a year of waiting. This championship, based on the same principle as the American Championship in that the teams are not subject to promotion or relegation, is scheduled to last ten weeks. But for Mickaël Heidmann, a former sports expert at the European Council, the comparison with the MLS must be put into perspective: ‘The Indian Super League is based on the model of the 1970s MLS by attracting big football stars, like when the New York Cosmos have recruited players like Pele. But the MLS has changed in recent years. It is evolving and getting closer to a real championship where the sports field is more important than the commercial dimension.
Former Blues – Nicolas Anelka, Robert Pirès and David Trezeguet – have also chosen to participate in this Indian Super League for a monthly salary that could be around 620,000 euros. On the investor side, the petrochemical company Reliance Industries is said to have injected almost 70 million euros into this event that was inaugurated with a terrifying opening ceremony reminiscent of that of the Olympic Games or the Football World Cup.
Football, but not only…
For Raffaele Poli, head and co-founder of the CIES Football Observatory, one of the objectives of these championships is to generate a national sporting spectacle that has so far been localized in Europe, and to establish itself in the local sporting landscape through the recruitment of famous players. athletes”.
If at the moment “the Indian Super League cannot yet claim to be developing rapidly”, this does not apply to the American Championship. “With its sporting and economic project in combination with its training system, Major League Soccer will soon no longer have anything to envy to the French championship. Within a few years the gap will be closed,” Raffaele Poli underlines. And it is, moreover, the European championships of the “second zone”, such as Belgium, France and Switzerland, that could see in the emergence of these competitions new competitors who – thanks to their economic resources – could very well attract many foreign players.
The World Cup is on everyone’s minds
India, Russia and Qatar all have a World Cup to prepare for. The one for the under-17s for the Indians: that will be in 2017. As for the Russians and the Qataris, they are preparing to host the most prestigious football competition in 2018 and 2022 respectively. Russian football has also seen the arrival of international stars such as current Everton player Samuel Eto’o with Anji Makhatchkala from 2011 to 2013, for an annual salary of 20.5 million euros. Present on the European stage, such as Zenit Saint Petersburg participating in the Champions League, Russian clubs will have to adapt in the coming months to possible demands from the Ministry of Sports, in particular in the field of recruitment of foreign players. In fact, this could be set at six per team in early 2015. And this with the aim of putting national players in the spotlight on the eve of the 2018 World Cup.
Qatar, which is very controversial about the organization of the 2022 World Cup, is in turn, according to Raffaele Poli, “making a great effort to give football a place in society”. But wouldn’t Qatar use football as a tourist showcase? The question may arise. The emirate, which is at the forefront of French football with PSG, is expected to spend almost 200 billion euros on the World Cup. The national championship, the Qatar Stars League, is still seen as a place of golden retirement, popular with European players like Raul and even former Ligue 1 players like Nene.
However, Qatari football does not seem to want to limit itself to this and the establishment of a quota of foreign players per team is proof of this. However, Qatar, which wants to develop its national football, faces a very limited ‘reservoir’ given its population. And FIFA’s strict rules on naturalizations, which allow players from abroad to join national teams, are not helping matters in the emirate. An example that shows that it is not enough to have money to do great things in football.
