By: Zoran Avramović
Whether we admit it or not, some calculations could easily slide off the cliff of football consciousness. There is an open attempt to evict passion, through proposed procedures for globally covering the planet with this game, and essentially, all these projects are written by the hand of greed. That is why in the time ahead, it will be very important how those respond the ones whom many “planners” believe are just a “noisy crowd.” Those who seek for football only a socially affirmed role of planetary proportions are wrong in that self-deception about their own exceptionality.
The public broader than just the football one, although I’m not sure such a wider public exists was stirred by the news that UEFA, after weeks of consideration (reluctantly) gave consent for the La Liga match Barcelona – Villarreal to be played on December 20 in Miami, and in Serie A for Como to host Milan on February 8 in Perth.
It was the banknote that spilled the cup. The European football ecosystem is once again the target of major interests. What specter is haunting Europe? Let us recall the strong attempts to reshape competitions under UEFA’s wing for profit motives: the extraction of a (rich) Super League or FIFA’s ruthless imposition of an international match calendar that represents a clear and immediate threat to the social infrastructure, the existing system, and the broad-based sustainability of European football.
The monetary attack on Euro-football the most developed in the world began erupting in February 2016, when Gianni Infantino was elected president of the World Football Federation. To illustrate the above, just two examples: the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was held in winter, causing interruptions of national championships. Secondly, the FIFA Club World Cup had 32 participants, with an option to expand to even 48. All of this are landmines beneath European football boots.
Simply and vividly: an invasion of Infantino(mania) on the Old Continent!
How far it has all gone is shown by the fact that the ball bounced all the way to the benches of the European Parliament. That’s no surprise not only because the European Club Association has 800 members, but because football is, without a doubt, the strongest cohesion factor on the continent. For that reason, it is entirely understandable that the EP has stood in defense of the European model of football, clearly expressing support both for UEFA and for the association of national leagues that are facing financial opportunistic threats – all for the benefit of a few, to the detriment of the many.
Football is an authentic European story. In fact, a fairy tale. The financial elite that entered it would use it as a lullaby, a “goodnight, football children.” The statement from Nyon that it is time for the EU and national governments to further support the European football model by ensuring protective measures needed so it can continue to play the role of a standard-bearer, maintaining a global dimension while remaining deeply rooted in local communities is at once a cry for encouragement. It is clearly recognized that gray clouds filled with money are rolling across the pitch, and yet this case shows again that football is more than a game not a matter of city, region, or country, but of the entire continent.
The noisy crowd in the stands holds the “golden voice” that will decide, whether their favorites will continue playing matches as before, in the atmosphere of warm and continuous fan emotion, or 13,709 km away in Perth maybe arranging tabletop football, or grabbing a tablet instead.
