Champions League
For a change, something different.
Ajax reached the semi-finals of the CL yesterday, knocking out Juventus, after earlier knocking out Real Madrid, winners of the last 3 years. For a football watcher of the last century, who may have woken up after sleeping 20 years like Rip van Winkle, its quite astounding to note that its the first time in 14 years that a team from a Non-Big-5 country has reached the semis of the CL. The last time was PSV, another Dutch team, in 2005.
Considering that Ajax have won the top European tournament 4 times, and many other teams from small countries have won before, including PSV, Porto and Red Star Belgrade, you may wonder what changed. Well, the same as in society as a whole. Inequality has taken over. Big money from Russian oligarchs, Arab tycoons and others has changed the football world. These biggies have only invested in the Big countries, who’s big populations may not quite bring a return on investment, but at least reduce the investment involved, while giving the oligarch/tycoon a prestige object/club.
This leaves the smaller countries without the resources to compete, and even a club with a great history like Ajax have to bend to the new reality. Ajax fielded by far the youngest team in the quarter-finals, but at least half of those players, probably more, will be gone next year, bought up by the big clubs in the Big 5. So although Ajax almost continuously has got the most points for the best Youth Academy of any European club (measured by how many land up in the Big 5 leagues), they last won the CL in 1995.
I sometimes wonder if this is good for football as a whole. Spectator interest in the smaller countries is certainly waning, with ticket sales in places like Austria, our small neighbours and Scandinavia on a steady decline, making the clubs even weaker. And another result is that the earlier stages of the CL are completely boring, as the big teams go thru the motions of beating the smaller ones.
But what do I know? Football is not my expertise. Maybe the fans are just waiting for the day when the big clubs just play against each other, and everbody else watches.
In the meantime, raise your Heineken and cheer for Ajax to win this year. It may be the last small country club win in our lifetimes.
Ajax reached the semi-finals of the CL yesterday, knocking out Juventus, after earlier knocking out Real Madrid, winners of the last 3 years. For a football watcher of the last century, who may have woken up after sleeping 20 years like Rip van Winkle, its quite astounding to note that its the first time in 14 years that a team from a Non-Big-5 country has reached the semis of the CL. The last time was PSV, another Dutch team, in 2005.
Considering that Ajax have won the top European tournament 4 times, and many other teams from small countries have won before, including PSV, Porto and Red Star Belgrade, you may wonder what changed. Well, the same as in society as a whole. Inequality has taken over. Big money from Russian oligarchs, Arab tycoons and others has changed the football world. These biggies have only invested in the Big countries, who’s big populations may not quite bring a return on investment, but at least reduce the investment involved, while giving the oligarch/tycoon a prestige object/club.
This leaves the smaller countries without the resources to compete, and even a club with a great history like Ajax have to bend to the new reality. Ajax fielded by far the youngest team in the quarter-finals, but at least half of those players, probably more, will be gone next year, bought up by the big clubs in the Big 5. So although Ajax almost continuously has got the most points for the best Youth Academy of any European club (measured by how many land up in the Big 5 leagues), they last won the CL in 1995.
I sometimes wonder if this is good for football as a whole. Spectator interest in the smaller countries is certainly waning, with ticket sales in places like Austria, our small neighbours and Scandinavia on a steady decline, making the clubs even weaker. And another result is that the earlier stages of the CL are completely boring, as the big teams go thru the motions of beating the smaller ones.
But what do I know? Football is not my expertise. Maybe the fans are just waiting for the day when the big clubs just play against each other, and everbody else watches.
In the meantime, raise your Heineken and cheer for Ajax to win this year. It may be the last small country club win in our lifetimes.
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