Over the past few years more and more footballers that are beyond their twilight years feel the need and attraction to play abroad in countries such as Russia, China, USA and Brazil to name a few. These countries aren’t a popular choice among the elite players as the English, Italian, French, Spanish and German leagues are seen as the top leagues in the world. So the question is why? What is the attraction for players now to look further seas to finish their career? Many players come under criticism for the substantial amount of money they are able to receive in wealthy countries such as China, USA and Russia, but these are professionals that love football and I believe it is much more than receiving a sizeable sum at the end of the week.
The two deals that shook the world the most were the deals of David Beckham to LA Galaxy and Samuel Eto’o to Anzhi Makhachkala. Both stories made front page headlines and both headlines were about how much they would earn. David Beckham got offered a five year deal that would be worth a reported ‘£130 million’ and Samuel Eto’o is currently earning roughly ‘£350,000 a week’ so football fans and pundits have reason to wonder if the move was just about the money.
But these players have played for top sides before moving, the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan. These clubs have fans across the world and players like David Beckham and Samuel Eto’o are players that attract this mass interest. What if their move wasn’t for the money and was to raise the awareness of football in the respected countries they moved to?
There can be no argument that being offered a huge sum of money would be hard to turn down, but football has spread across the world in recent decades. In the 1900’s football players would only dream about playing abroad, but in 1995 everything changed for world football with the Bosman Case allowing clubs to field as many EU players as possible meaning the Spanish, English and Italian leagues started to merge and attract players from across the world.
17 years on and the foreign player is now common in football clubs and most English sides are made up of foreign players. But with the bosman case bringing a freedom of movement to anywhere in Europe, it led to footballers only wishing to play in what they see as the top leagues, discarding less known leagues in the world such as the Chinese Super League, the MLS, the Brazilian league and most recently thanks to the wealthy owners, EU’s own Russian League has seen a popularity rise.
Footballers may not see these leagues as competitive leagues to where they could play throughout their career at the moment, but with more and more players seeking their football beyond the obvious top leagues, the awareness of football across the world has rose dramatically. Players like Roberto Carlos now player manager of Anzhi Makhachkala, Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane playing in the MLS and Brazilian favourite,Ronaldinho plying his trade back in Brazil for Flamengo are all beyond their twilight years and look to be raising the awareness of the high standard of football in those countries.
Without these big name players moving further abroad what football fan could say they would have taken an interest in watching David Beckham and Robbie Keane win the MLS cup with LA Galaxy? Who could say they would take any notice of a relatively new club in Anzhi Makhachkala? Nobody is the answer because they wouldn’t have received the same publicity without them.
All footballers love football, yes the paycheck makes the headlines because it’s astonishing what some players earn. I’m not agreeing with how much footballers earn, money has nothing to do with it. What I’m trying to do is bring football around the world together, for football fans to enjoy the different cultures of football around the world. Football fans can look far beyond the Spanish League, Serie A and our very own Barclays Premier League to watch fantastic football. Football is growing around the world, and this is only the beginning.
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