In an assembly of associates, Juan Sebastián Verón, vice-president of the La Plata Students, was sent with a common ground, but he called it the revelation of Mount Sinai. “You have to understand once and for all that football is a business,” he said. And that’s why, according to The Little Witch, it doesn’t make sense to spend money on sports that don’t pay off, like women’s soccer.

Having become a leader thanks to his brilliant career as a football player and identification with the La Plata club, Verón perhaps has the individual perspective that characterizes the players and forgets in his not-so-new role as leader: commands a non-profit civic association – Attempts to turn them into commercial companies have been a permanent failure – whose task is or should be to promote sporting activity in the community, as well as to guarantee the good performance of professional men’s football. In a few and perhaps naive words for Verón’s logic of management, it fulfills a social function. Encouraging the wealth of a small group of players, representatives, coaches and the like should not be in the first line of the Student charter. And I don’t think it’s there.

But let’s set this requirement aside, recognizing that it can be branded as archaic. And let’s accept the program that Verón briefly outlined in parliament. His business logic seems to be inspired by rentier laziness rather than the aggressive anger of a man intent on developing a “business”. Of course, today’s women’s football does not attract the public or sponsors like men. However, with the right care and resources, competitive, interesting and, who knows, capable of being profitable.

A young, successful businessman devoted to a club whose last name evokes a glorious past would at some point have to consider investing as a necessity for reaping benefits. But the Little Witch puts the cart before the horse. It tells girls and other amateur and semi-amateur sports. He said that they first made twine and demanded the support of the club. Rare. Affected by the oversight and the ineptitude of such an underrated argument, different players came out on social networks to join the former Manchester United footballer and the Argentina team.

For the rest, Verón would be asked what he meant by commerce. If you’re talking about the accounting entry that pays dividends at the end of the year, it’s a thought closer to the activity of a store clerk than to professional sports strategists. Although it seems that there is no one who fills his pockets in football, the wheel continues to turn faster with each passing day. It’s pretty mysterious.

An example in hand: Swiss Ramble, the finance specialist for football teams, is one of the most important clubs in the Spanish league. It has debts of 1,500 million euros (Real Madrid), 1,200 million (Barcelona) and 946 million (Atletico de Madrid). Nothing surprising: Florentino Pérez, president of the Merengue club, had already openly victimized himself by declaring that football, whose legendary institution was at the helm, was “devastated” by the effects of the pandemic. This was his excuse to introduce the elite Super League, which featured only the strongest teams in Europe, a project that ultimately fell through.

Qatar’s “business”

Let’s go to the upcoming World Cup: What is Qatar’s “business”? Of course, a country rich in oil and gas, with a population of no more than three million (80% foreign), does not seek to make a fortune from the tournament. He doesn’t need it. On the contrary, the expense was enormous. It is the most expensive World Cup in history (costs estimated at over $200,000 million), although slave labor, immigrants from Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Egypt, and the Philippines, among other countries, live in virtual captivity. The harvest that Qatar intends does not count towards cash, at least in the first place. Perhaps the prom will serve to make its image more palatable to Western powers, who, after political feuds with its neighbors (especially Saudi Arabia), are watching these debates carefully. First of all, when accusations as strong as “supporting terrorism” are heard, it is a sanbenito burden on the Emirate of Qatar for its good friends with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, the armed forces organization and Hamas.

In the World Cup sincerity plan, emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani a French media denied these links and his country’s friendship with the United States (which has an important airbase in Qatar), a loving relationship that he wants to keep secure, although he stressed that China is the main gas buyer.

Qataris became fully involved in football in 2012 through the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) fund. Al Thani, They bought Paris Saint-Germain. With the arrival of new ownersclub Investing in football players, more bills, less bills, 1,400 million euros. And despite building a true dream team whose latest jewel is Lionel Messi, he hasn’t been able to win the Champions League, which is his greatest desire. In accordance with salaryspor.comThe French-Qatar club spends 388 million euros a year on salaries alone, the highest of which is the salary of the captain of the Argentina national team: 1,160,000 euros per week (yes, per week). It is not possible to face such an adventure without the support of the capital accumulated thanks to oil. Let’s calculate that a very advantageous sponsorship in the jersey is around 50 million euros per year. Al-Thani is there not to make money, but to lose without hesitation. He will know why he paid the price.

Arab money landed in Europe in 2008, when Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) bought Manchester City. City Football Group (CFC), the office that manages ADUG’s investments, has expanded its interests around the world and has expanded a number of franchises in Australia, the United States, China and Uruguay, among other countries. In parallel, City owners were faced with an ambitious urban development plan on the grounds surrounding the stadium, on the outskirts of Manchester. The value of the site is in excess of one billion euros.

Arab capital’s attack on Europe has been one of the most relevant phenomena in global football lately. However, the use of the most popular sporting event as a tool for strategies that go beyond that goes back a long way. Only at the moment the scenario is more complex and sometimes undecipherable. A substitute for international showcase and diplomacy (soft power), the prologue of a presidential candidacy, the black hole where dirty money escapes the radar, the weakness of the rich and famous, the placebos of dictatorships, the spoils of communications companies, the breeding ground for shock forces and secret markets, giving great visibility. In short, all this and much more football. As in the origins, it was just a rough kid’s game.

DC