Dec. 10, 2023
By Ariston Nishevci
Staff Writer
There is a phenomenon going on in the world of soccer right now. Money is taking over the sport.
The Saudi Arabian League and the Premier League especially, are spending massive amounts of money on players, and it is ruining the game. It is making it unfair for the other leagues and teams to compete for signing players. That makes it difficult to win trophies, qualify for European competitions or even not get relegated.
In the Saudi Arabian league, players are being given massive contracts by their clubs, such as Al Nassr, Al Hilal, Al Etifaq and Al Ittihad. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United as a free agent to go to Al Nassr. Al Nassr then gave Ronaldo a $75 million per year contract. Al Ittihad also gave Karim Benzema $200 million per year contract after he left Real Madrid on free transfer.
These mega contracts being given out to these star players are unbelievable. This is making it difficult for clubs to compete for players when they don’t have the funds to give players these mega contracts. Unless the club is a Premier League club, which has enough money to do so.
Now, in the Premier League there are many clubs that are able to buy these great players for tons of money even though some of the clubs are considered small. For example, Nottingham Forest, a relatively small club in the Premier League, spent 150 million Euros on players last season, and that’s when they had just gotten promoted to the Premier League. Compare that to Real Madrid, who are considered the biggest club in the world, only spent 80 million Euros last season.
Southampton, a now relegated Premier League club, bought Mislav Orŝić last season for 8 million Euros. Orŝić is a player who has the quality to go to a way better club and do a good job there, but he decided to go to Southampton because of the money they were offering him. This is showing how the small Premier League club’s money is way more appealing than some of the bigger clubs in other leagues.
These mega contracts being given out to these star players are unbelievable. This is making it difficult for clubs to compete for players when they don’t have the funds to give players these mega contracts. Unless the club is a Premier League club, which has enough money to do so.
The bigger clubs in the league are also either spending lots of money or breaching FFP. Chelsea has spent over $1 billion on players in the transfer windows. They, in fact, spent the most out of any team in the window. Over these two seasons, they bought two players for over $100 million. They bought Enzo Fernandez for 121 million Euros and Moses Caicedo for 116 million Euros. Those are just two players they have bought and the fees combined are almost 300 million Euros. The only reason why they haven’t breached FFP is because they give their new signings eight-year contracts.
Manchester City, one of the best teams in the Premier League, has been accused of 115 breaches of FFP since 2009. If it is found guilty, Manchester City could have all their Premier League titles stripped away from them. They haven’t had anything happen to them because their lawyers are really good. Manchester City is owned by Qatari Sheik Mansour, who took over in September of 2008. He is a very rich man.
Mansour has pumped billions into the club. With that money, Manchester City has been able to buy a bunch of star players and really any player they want. This, of course, has led to much success for them. Just last season, Manchester City won the treble. When you win three trophies in one season.
Many people have said Manchester City have “bought the league,” which is a fair argument since every season they buy all the great players to allow them to compete for every trophy.
Speaking of Mansour, the only reason he bought Manchester City and became owner was to project Qatar as a great sporting nation before the World Cup in Qatar and to hide all the human rights abuse cases they have. That is a blatant sign of sportswashing. Another blatant sign of sportswashing is when the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) took over Newcastle United two seasons ago in 2021. They did this to show that they were good people by saving a club that so many people care about from relegation.
The Saudi PIF has been accused of many bad actions such as human rights abuses. Now, since they have taken over Newcastle and made them a great team, no one really pays attention to the scandals going on with them anymore.
Money is making soccer less enjoyable by making the sport more predictable. Before all the big money, signings from everyone and the mega rich owners taking over clubs, there were so many surprises and dramatic moments in soccer. Now, and especially in the Premier League, there are fewer surprises or fairy tale stories where a small club goes on to achieve so much.
Back in 2016, Leicester City won the Premier League despite almost being relegated the season before and being worth less than all the big clubs. The odds of them winning the league were slim, but they still did it. Now with lots of clubs in the Premier League having billions of dollars, it is becoming less likely that we’ll ever see a story like Leicester City again.
These mega rich owners are poisoning soccer, and, unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it will stop any time soon.
