The Official 2013-2014 Football (Soccer) Thread.
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northside7 wrote: »Barcelona and Madrid, too rich for devalued LigaBarcelona and Real Madrid are the biggest clubs in Spain due to a history littered with trophies and the several millions of dedicated supporters who have followed their every move for over a century. La Liga is able to interest so many fans from around the world largely because of an intrinsic love or loathing for either Los Cules or Los Merengues.
That being said, there are 18 more teams competing in the domestic league. I am fully aware that such affirmation may seem blatantly obvious but, unfortunately, there seem to be far too many directors running the Spanish game who, for a whatever reason, consistently favoure the top two on a disproportionate basis and are hurting the competition as a result.
Barcelona and Madrid each receive a massive 23% of the revenue obtained by selling television rights while teams such as Real Betis or Levante only get 2% of the total. In other words: Barcelona earn €128 million more than Levante per season as a reward for playing the same number of games in the same competition.
To put it into perspective, the biggest income difference in Premier League, between Manchester United and the newly-promoted teams, is just €23 million. In the Bundesliga, treble winners Bayern Munich are only allocated 7.6% of revenue, while others such as Schalke, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen or Werder Bremen all get around 6.6% of the total.
The system of distributing earnings in the Spanish league is making the rich richer and the poor poorer. When compared to other major European competitions, it is blatantly obvious that the Liga system is completely out-dated and unsustainable in the long-term.
The number of years that such a debatable system has been in place, together with the inability of some so-called minor clubs to organise their limited resources effectively during that time, has inevitably widened the gap between Barca, Madrid and the rest to a level that could threaten the integrity of the competition as a whole.
During the current transfer window, La Liga has lost far too many of their best players due to the club's failure to match offers presented by foreign clubs and, more importantly, the imperative need to use money obtained from transfers for paying off debts, acquired by illadvised actions while the cash flowed in previous years.
At this point, it is clear the clubs' priority must be to ensure their survival within the current adverse economical climate, rather than keeping stars by promising wages they can afford to pay - a terribly sad situation for the competition formerly known as La Liga de las Estrellas.
Radamel Falcao has joined Monaco for a €45 million fee after impressing with 28 La Liga goals for Atletico de Madrid last season. Roberto Soldado scored 24 goals for Valencia and Tottenham have recently signed him for €30 million. Alvaro Negredo, who netted 25 for Sevilla, now plays in Manchester after The Citizens agreed a transfer fee of €28 million. Other talented footballers such as Jesus Navas, Fernando Llorente or Iago Aspas have also left.
From a Barcelona fan perspective, weakened opposition should mean an easier ride to win the domestic league title. However, I feel the prospect of challenging for a trophy with the only realistic challenge coming from Real Madrid one that makes the competition far less attractive.
Don't get me wrong, beating Los Blancos would definitely be a tremendous achievement, especially after their conscientious effort to reinforce their squad by investing heavily once again. I am definitely looking forward to see Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at their absolute best once again, competing to take their teams to top spot, most likely, also excelling on an individual basis.
Knowing that the whole world will be watching a two-horse race for the ultimate glory, however, does concern me. Personally, I believe that only a fairer distribution of collective revenue can ensure that La Liga continues to attract worldwide interest in coming years -- beyond the couple of highly-anticipated Clasicos, that is.
The days when teams such as Deportivo de la Coruna, Athletic de Bilbao, Real Sociedad or even Valencia were capable of lifting the ultimate trophy are, in theory, long gone. Witnessing Barcelona break the all-time points record last season was definitely enjoyable, but the fact that the main incentive for watching Spanish football was the battle for relegation is, in my eyes, just wrong.
Here is hoping for a surprise challenger to Barca and Madrid in the upcoming season and, from a more general perspective, a major rethink at club level so that the league can become a beacon for European football once again -- even if that means that Sandro Rosell and Florentino Perez have to give up some of their clubs' allocated resources.
http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=barcelona&id=1839
Good read. La Liga has fallen off and become a two team league.
EPL, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, La Liga, in that order.
Oooo. Not sure about that. Bundesliga is Bayern Munich vs everyone else. You wouldn't see the second placed team in England sellin' one of their most influential players to the first team. Ligue 1 just doesn't have the talent to compete. Its true that La Liga is a two horse race, but it really is entertainin' and interestin' to watch those two teams battle all season -
so suarez still wants to leave... I'm tired of this ?
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so suarez still wants to leave... I'm tired of this ?
I feel your frustration...same ? with Rooney.
But honestly fam...it's not gonna happen.
The only way him or Rooney go is if they go abroad.
It would be the biggest fail for either club to sell players of this calibre to a rival premiership club...and they know it.
I've come to this realisation in the last 24 hours.
Should know this, but how powerful is a transfer request?
A club can still refuse to sell right? -
Nick Collins falls off ladder live on Sky Sports News:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LuZWi4c6gc
#PrayForNick -
Only the idiots at Fifa would schedule 30 Friendlies before the start of the season for most of the leagues in europe.
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rumors of gustavo signing for Wolfsburg
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so suarez still wants to leave... I'm tired of this ?
I feel your frustration...same ? with Rooney.
But honestly fam...it's not gonna happen.
The only way him or Rooney go is if they go abroad.
It would be the biggest fail for either club to sell players of this calibre to a rival premiership club...and they know it.
I've come to this realisation in the last 24 hours.
Should know this, but how powerful is a transfer request?
A club can still refuse to sell right?
yea its pretty useless unless the club wanna save money...player forgoes certain bonuses and ? when they hand in a transfer request...but if they dont care abt that ? they just have to tell them "nope" and its back to square one for the player lol -
dontdiedontkillanyon wrote: »
and the origins of the rumor are frm germany lol...yup i really should hav stayed away frm this transfer window like i had planned...most shocking one ever -
dontdiedontkillanyon wrote: »Nick Collins falls off ladder live on Sky Sports News:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LuZWi4c6gc
#PrayForNick
lmaoooo dude trying so hard not to laugh -
dontdiedontkillanyon wrote: »
and the origins of the rumor are frm germany lol...yup i really should hav stayed away frm this transfer window like i had planned...most shocking one ever
You're knee deep in this ? .,
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rumors of gustavo signing for Wolfsburg
Well might as well get ready for summer 2014!!!
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Wolfsburg are not playing in the CL.
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yea but i think he jus wants playing time so he can be in Brazil squad for nxt summer...being in that >>>>> champions league
But Wolfsburg are denying a deal...still hope lol -
I can't stand this Taylor Twellman dude. He does not know anything other than the US team. Talk about how they are losing 2-0.
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joe hart has been rather avg since he was being mentioned as best in the world
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LOL England
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good goal frm Theo...good pass frm cleverly i think
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joe hart has been rather avg since he was being mentioned as best in the world
for real
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It's a great ball from Cleverly...and Walcott looking finishing up nicely.
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We expect a goal on Saturday, theo.
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Its a good thing Theo scored. The few touches before the shot were horrendous.
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Great pass, great goal
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lmao i thought he was gonna ? it up but he composed himself nicelyCeLLaR-DooR wrote: »Its a good thing Theo scored. The few touches before the shot were horrendous.
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That boy Jozy been playing with confidence for a minute. Hope he does his thing at Sunderland.
