Football Is Not Dead

But the game has to change

I fell in love with football at a young age.

In Uganda, it was part of the culture. Almost everyone supported a team. Kids played it in the streets. Everyone would stay up late to watch Champions League matches and you could hear the city erupt when a big goal was scored.

Football was that untouchable constant that was always there for me, regardless of what was happening in my life. When I moved across the world with my family and later when I went abroad to study, I found comfort in the familiarity of the stadiums and ballers I had grown up watching.

But as with almost every industry on the planet, Football has been shaken to its core and many questions are now being asked about its future.

The Ugly Side of the Game

My love for the game doesn’t blind me from the faults that plague it.

Football has not escaped the clutches of corruption. Its governing body FIFA has been the center of corruption and money laundering scandals over the years, and the US Department of Justice recently confirmed that FIFA officials received bribes to push forward Russia and Qatar’s bids to host the World Cup.

Furthermore, it’s 2020, and the cancer that is racism is also still a thing. There are cases where players have had bananas thrown at them and racist chants have been heard from supporters of a player’s own team. Those caught in the act are banned from the stadium for life, but somehow it still goes on.

And then there is the case of player earnings. Footballers make crazy amounts. Messi and Ronaldo have earned over $100m per year for the last few years through their high wages and endorsement deals. Not everyone makes that much, but football is a lucrative business and many of its players get silly money.

I’ve had many conversations with people about the injustice of the footballing pay scheme. How can players live with themselves earning so much while many of their adoring fans can only afford to eat once a day? And how can I, as a fan of the game, be ok with an industry of corruption and ridiculous salaries?

The Fall of the Titans

I don’t agree with how much footballers are paid. But I also know how much money football teams make through their broadcasting rights, sponsorship deals, and matchday tickets. If I were generating millions of dollars for a company, I’d want to get compensated fairly too.

Regardless of whether or not it’s a just system, it’s not sustainable. I’ve always dreaded the day when the world of football would come crashing down. There’s no way this goes on forever, and no chance that when the world inevitably fixes all its systems that sports players would be paid such crazy amounts.

As broadcasting and sponsorship deals continued to get bigger, a few years ago PSG broke the world football transfer record when they paid $263m for Neymar, and some experts were saying that we could soon see the first billion-dollar deal. But the pandemic has shaken the footballing world and called into question a lot of its current structures.

The limelight is being shone on many of the celebrities and high earners of the world, comparing their contribution to society at a time like this, to those of the essential workers, primarily in the medical field. People are asking why footballers are able to amass exorbitant wealth when ‘all they do is kick around a ball’?

Are they being paid too much, or are essential workers underpaid? Seems the whole system is in need of a shakeup and that’s hopefully what it’s going to get.

When your livelihood and health are at risk, and the future of you and your family takes an unexpected turn, the less important things in your life fade into the background. I missed football dearly for the first few weeks, I still do to an extent. But I also know that life is more important.

The Future of Football

As much as I’ve missed those match day vibes and those London derbies, I know football has needed this break.

Like all of us, the world of football needed time for self-reflection and a new perspective. What are the core values of the game? Where does the passion come from? Without fans, what is left of the game?

Football has returned and it’s kinda weird. Empty stadiums. Players still not back to their usual fitness levels. There will definitely be some sort of adjustment period before things go back to normal. But will they?

Some are saying that after decades of non-stop action, a break from football has made them realize how insignificant it is in their life. Others are not so extreme, but say they likely won’t spend money on going to games anymore since watching from home isn’t all that bad. Is the game slowly losing its support?

I don’t think so. The currency of the world is attention, so any business related to entertainment will likely do well going forward. But with an economic recession impending and a new societal perspective on justice, can the old structures that ran the game for so long still hold up?

We’ll have to wait and see. Either way, I think football has benefited from this break and will be the better for it.