Saudi Arabia is buying football, DAZN is raising prices again, Norway’s football president Lise Klaveness warns of the destruction of the game, Hertha boss Kay Bernstein is calling for a revolution, the city’s neighbor 1. FC Union is moving to the Olympic Stadium and BVB is dismantling find out about a transfer. The simultaneity of things in this 2023 summer break lends itself to thinking that everything will soon be on fire. That may be an exaggeration, but something is happening this summer when football has to face so many societal issues that the actual game is forgotten.
Join us on a journey into the crumbling world of soccer and let ntv.de answer some of these questions.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Roberto Firmino: The world selection is now playing in the desert. What the hell is Saudi Arabia up to?
They want nothing more than to become one of the most famous leagues in the world. So far they have done well. The name of the kingdom keeps coming up. Because everyone is wondering. The concept of the Saudi Pro League is based on a very solid plan. With the purchase of many players in the English Premier League, they immediately grab the top shelf, and they pepper the league with former world footballers and thus ensure even more attention.
Is Saudi Arabia the Next China?
Saudi Arabia beat Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar. Totally deserved. China wasn’t at the World Cup. We should take a closer look at what’s happening down there. The first experts say – still behind closed doors – that one of the goals of the kingdom is FIFA. She is supposed to move from Switzerland to the desert at some point. The regular visits of President Gianni Infantino are used as an indication of this. He jets there regularly, sometimes in an official and sometimes in an unofficial capacity. He wasn’t seen that often in China.
Is that still “sports washing”?
While we’re still talking about “sportswashing” here in Europe, the UK has long since said goodbye to it. They know they are not celebrated everywhere. They know that the human rights situation in the country and the murder of government critic Jamal Kashoggi are pointed out to them again and again, especially from the West. It’s just that they don’t care about Europe. According to numerous experts, the investments in the sport and the associated attention outweigh the criticism. It is also a kind of imposed social contract with its own young population. She gets the heroes she asks for and foregoes protests. Because the memories of the Arab Spring are still present in Saudi Arabia. That should be prevented. By all means, including those of sport.
Nevertheless, the kingdom runs the risk of losing even more international reputation as a result of this strategy.
The “soft disempowerment”, as it is called, is not perceived as a real danger there, it is said. Sport is part of a geopolitical strategy here, which the ruling family wants to lead to even more power, also due to the turbulence in the world. The not uncontroversial economist Simon Chadwick says: “America is fighting for survival, Europe too and China has not yet recovered from the pandemic, Saudi Arabia wants to fill this gap.” So that could also be the plan.
But wait a minute: it doesn’t have any impact on the Bundesliga anyway? Rather, they could benefit from the fact that the English league is “attacked”, if you want to put it that way.
In the short term, that is correct. But in the long term, the efforts of the Saudi Pro League are likely to have an impact on the Bundesliga’s internationalization plans, which are already faltering. There was recently voted against the entry of an investor. That would have brought the DFL, the 36 organized clubs in the first two leagues, around two billion euros, which in turn should have been used in part for the foreign marketing of the league. That doesn’t happen now. Hans-Joachim Watzke then spoke of the fact that some in the league are not so important to be competitive. It was of course about international visibility.
But in Europe, the Pro League from the desert won’t play a role after all!
The world does not only consist of Europe, neither does the football world. In other markets, the question will arise in the future as to whether the game between Darmstadt and Augsburg or Hoffenheim and Heidenheim is worth the investment, or whether it would be better to transfer the billion-dollar superstar league from Saudi Arabia.
Nationally, the Bundesliga still enjoys a good reputation. That’s the only reason why DAZN can increase the prices again. A complete subscription for the Bundesliga and Champions League will cost almost 45 euros a month.
The question arises as to who also wants to see this in Germany at this price. At the same time, the league is entering the next round of negotiations. The current contracts expire in summer 2025. The TV rights will soon be renegotiated by a new DFL leadership. The contracts concluded under Christian Seifert totaling 4.4 billion euros for four years and that in the midst of the corona pandemic were a great success. The next few months will show whether this can be repeated. That’s not for sure.
Hertha President Kay Bernstein also mentioned this in an interview with ntv.de. The 42-year-old also called for a revolution in German football. How were the reactions to it?
Among other things, it was about the question of whether that particular piece of amber is even suitable for proclaiming the revolution. Because he is in charge of a club that has lost 374 million euros and has recently found itself in the second division. While the big clubs have been heard saying they were touched, they have not officially commented. But nothing came from the clubs that might be interested in a revolution. It almost seemed as if they didn’t want to deal with this topic anymore.
Because all clubs are always busy with themselves anyway.
That may be part of the explanation.
Let’s take a look at the league. Union Berlin plays the games in the Champions League in the unpopular Berlin Olympic Stadium. The fans aren’t all thrilled.
Because it would have been the crowning glory for the Alte Försterei, which will soon no longer be the way it is now, and the Union fans if they had played there in their home country. Because the Alte Försterei can scare even Manchester City. But it’s different: Union is the new number one in Berlin. The club wants to take all fans with them. It’s also a question of finances. A sold-out stadium in the Westend brings in more money after deducting all costs. We have to assume that the Iron Ones won’t be a permanent guest in the premier class unless they really decide to leave the Alte Försterei for good. Then they could make the Olympic Stadium their new home in front of a full ranks in the Bundesliga. With that they would awaken the Olympic Stadium and give the capital a new top club. Hertha has impressively missed this chance. For Union, however, a diversion has now been reached: do they also want to open up to new fans or present their club to young people during the boom, without the circumstances being forced to reduce the number of tickets?
That sounds like a pipe dream. But maybe even national coach Hansi Flick will see a player for the DFB team. Union Berlin has not yet appeared there.
That is correct. It will hardly be the reason for the current crisis of the DFB. After a furious start against lower-class opponents, the former Bayern coach soon caught up with Joachim Löw’s football of the last few days. A year before the European Championships in their own country, the euphoria is still very limited. According to a recently published study by the renowned fan researcher Harald Lange, the anticipation is within manageable limits. Almost all respondents speak of a loss of identification with the national team, and Rudi Völler’s comeback couldn’t change that.
Rudi Völler was surprisingly persuaded to return from retirement by a task force led by BVB boss and DFB vice Hans-Joachim Watzke. One of several seemingly unfortunate decisions by Watzke recently. Against all odds, the club pushed through the transfer of Felix Nmecha from Wolfsburg. The fans accuse the 22-year-old of homophobia and transphobia.
Above all, they justify this with two postings on the Internet. The player is said to have rejected these allegations in a direct conversation, the club signed him and leaned far out of the window. But the protests, not only from the queer community, don’t stop. On the right, however, there is applause. BVB hopes that people will change. Some fans don’t believe in it. Everything is a struggle these days. And there are hardly any paths left. It’s complicated.
Like everything you describe here.
Because the world of football is constantly on fire. Because this game still touches so many people that all these topics are debated in large groups, because they not only affect football, but also always take up and promote discussions in society.
A game that must not fall into the wrong hands, said Lise Klaveness, President of the Norwegian Association, in an interview with ntv.de.
One can wholeheartedly agree with that. But the problem is, we don’t even know exactly what these wrong hands are and whether we are allowed to decide.