No sport mirrors the full impact of globalisation, of this advanced form of capitalism, on modern life than football. Had Marx been living today he would probably refer to football as ‘the opium of the people’. How else can it be justified that a 22-year-old mischievous Italian footballer be named as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world?
Had Marx been living today he would probably refer to football as ‘the opium of the people’
And if football is the new ‘religion’, Wembley Stadium is its cathedral. Wembley hosted this year’s Champions League final. Ironically, it was the first time ever that two German teams made it to the final.
This provoked old rivalries between the two nations. Mockingly, Sueddeutsche Zeitung stated that “Fussball is coming home”, a clear reference to the official Euro ‘96 tournament slogan hosted by England.
For the Germans, and especially Bayern supporters, it was sweet revenge for Chelsea’s triumph at the Allianz-Arena, a year earlier. According to Deloitte Football Money League, Bayern is one of the four richest clubs in Europe. They have reached the Champions League final three times in the last four years.
Bayern won the Bundesliga by a record 25 points this season, Borussia, the other Champions League finalists, placing second. Bayern were hot favourites to win Europe’s most coveted football prize. As had been expected, the final was a real spectacle.
Everyone cheered and Angela Merkel made sure to embrace all the protagonists on their way to collect their medals.
Bayern’s win was deserved for the consistency they have shown in the last years. This was their fifth triumph in the top European Cup and came after two consecutive defeats in the 2010 and 2012 finals, against Inter Milan and Chelsea respectively.
This year’s win was a personal achievement for Jupp Heynckes, the coach, who already knows that he will have to hand over the team to Josep Guardiola next year.
Borussia returned home beaten but with heads held high. They started as underdogs but their performance won the sympathy of many football lovers. For the British press it is not easy to praise anything German. Still, The Guardian described the final as “a night of outstanding drama, fully re-affirming all the eulogies about German football”.
Many football analysts are now predicting that European club football dominance is moving to Germany.
This may be partly true but it is more likely that a dozen ‘elite’ clubs (possibly joined by ‘nouveau riche’ ones such as Manchester City, PSG and, now, Monaco) will continue to monopolise European football.
The days when a ‘normal’ club like Nottingham Forest would win two consecutive European Cups seem long gone.
English supporters are rightly disappointed with the general performance of their football teams, since the high of 2007-2009, when three Premier League teams reached the semi-finals in three consecutive years.
The absence of an English side in this season’s quarter-finals (and only Chelsea progressing past that stage last year) suggests that the Premier League’s dominance of the top European competition is in decline.
The Premier League is still the world’s richest but it is plagued by heavy debts due mainly to the excessively high wages of players which absorb about 67 per cent of revenue.
Only one in three players in the Premier is English. Clubs have opted to expose themselves to global capital and a growing number have foreign ownership. The Germans chose a different route.
Bundesliga rules stipulate that ‘50 per cent plus 1’ of the shares must be owned by the fans.
German clubs opted for self-regulation and are well-prepared them for the Financial Fair Play rules that UEFA is insisting upon. The Bundesliga is not the richest but, with average crowds of more than 42,000 per game, boasts the highest attendances in the world.
Clubs in the top two divisions are obliged to have their own nurseries and invest about €100 million annually in them.
As a result, the number of under-23s playing regular first team football soared from six per cent in 2000 to 15 per cent in 2010.
This year’s Champions League final was a showcase of home-grown talent (such as Philipp Lahm, Thomas Mueller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Marcel Schmelzer, Marco Reus and Mats Hummels).
This year, as the English Football Association celebrates its 150th anniversary, it is realising that there is a lot to learn from the way that the Germans are managing their football. This is generating mixed feelings, a combination of admiration and envy.
How come that the Germans, who lost two world wars, rule Europe? How come that they, the inventors of football (and winners of the 1966 World Cup), are not keeping pace with German clubs?
As the British brood over this year’s Champions League final, their main solace remains that football has been one of their best export stories.
Football is such a wonderful microcosm of real life.
fms18@onvol.net