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SOCCER

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Abstract

This paper discusses soccer or football in relation to money, politics and law. Soccer or football are ball games which are used interchangeably as they refer to one and the same thing. Soccer is very powerful as it has the ability to unite nations or to further instigate hatred. Both violence and peace can emanate from this sport which has a huge following. Huge amounts of money are spent every year to make sure the sport is more entertaining and more interesting. In the soccer or football spaces names like Ronaldo, Messi, Hazard or Neymar dominate. Such names are associated with huge sums of money to summarise the reality of the sport as business. Each soccer player has a club they play for and have a contract in place hence it is important to note that one cannot separate law and soccer itself. Soccer governing bodies such as FIFA play a significant role in making sure that laws are implemented. It is also significant to note that soccer and politics cannot be separate in today’s world as many people try to settle their political differences in the soccer field which becomes a battlefield, with losers turning violent. Soccer is tactical or strategic sport with teams formulating ways in which they can overcome their opponents with the most popular 4-4-2 formation. One can be involved in different ways in the sport for example as an athlete, referee, coach or fan. Clubs like Manchester United football club and Real Madrid football club have arguably the richest history alongside Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Barcelona ranked in terms of the honours won. Countries like Germany, France, Argentina, Portugal and Brazil are known to produce good players hence also denotes the football or soccer culture in those countries. The most competitive soccer league is the English Premier League and the biggest derby is the El Classico which is played between one of the world’s best teams Real Madrid and Barcelona football club.

Key words: Soccer, football, violence, money, law, politics, sport, soccer players, coach, teams, tournament

Soccer or football is a sport or ball game in which each of the two team’s field 11 soccer players in the soccer stadium or field which consist of a goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and striker(s) in order to play against each other. Although soccer or football is commonly known as Association football the most commonly used names are soccer and football interchangeably. Soccer can be a sport that unifies people for example the African cup of nations where African teams participate in soccer tournament with the winner taking the trophy. The tournament unifies Africans and celebrates being an African and no non-African team participates. It encourages oneness and unity of Africans. Whereas some tournaments such as COSAFA are specifically created for countries within Southern Africa in which some countries take pride in belonging in Southern Africa. World Cup tournament which is arguably the best tournament in which countries can participate in seeks to unify the whole world and remind humanity that we have different cultures, languages or races however, we are people who celebrate and unify in our differences. Although some tournaments such as World cup has the potential to unify people of different nations the tournament is not free from its politics. The politics of hosting that is which country is supposed to host the World Cup Tournament is very political in that Africa has only seen South Africa host it compared to other continents which have seen more countries host.

Football can also be seen as a sport which is used as a platform for violence. For example in Zimbabwe the game between Highlanders nicknamed Mahlolanyama and Dynamos nicknamed Dembare highlight a platform in which football is used as a platform of violence. Many Highlanders and Dynamos football club matches are marked by violence with people who have personal vendettas taking opportunity to drive their agendas home using violence. It is not coincidence that the match between the two teams is known as battle of Zimbabwe. Matebeleland and Mashonaland provinces have a sour history between the two and that history makes it more interesting as teams from both provinces resort to use soccer as a platform of violence. Usually, if fans from one club visits to support their club in either of the provinces, visiting supporters usually are prone to suffer violence from the home team fans with missiles thrown at them. Politicians have shown a keen interest in the so-called battle of Zimbabwe in that some ruling politicians rule in favour of teams they are supporting if a decisive decision has been made against their team. Although soccer is supposed to be free from politics it is not the case in Zimbabwe. Politics and football in Zimbabwe are interlinked for example two months ago a referee gave one player a red card however, the red card was overruled or nullified by some politicians.

Even though one cannot separate politics and soccer, one cannot separate law and soccer. FIFA is the highest football governing body hence to become a FIFA president one has to engage in politics and campaign to become one. This is not to say football is all about politics. FIFA governing body is guided by laws or code ethics in which once violated one may incur fines, may be warned , may see awards returned, ban from substitutes of dressing room or even entering stadiums. Recently a team in Spain, Athletico Madrid was hit by a transfer ban for violating some football laws, which means they cannot buy any player from any club until January 2018. Soccer is a sport that involves a lot of money. When a soccer player plays for a certain X club and that player wants to move to D club then the two clubs have to enter negotiations as the player is contracted to the club. If however, the soccer player decides to move to another club while he or she is contracted to the club then the other club has a right to sue in terms of the contract. Football and law cannot be separated nowadays because any breach of contract or violation of certain laws or footballing rules can see a person in courts.

There is a lot of money involved in soccer with the highest earners of the game in Europe being the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar and Hazard among others. It is sometimes impossible for many fans to talk about soccer without mentioning those names as the soccer players are regarded as the best soccer players in the planet. Neymar for example commanded a transfer fee of $263 million from Barcelona football club to Paris Saint Germain football club this year according to BBC news in August. If one has to ask for a price which could cost any club which tries to lure Messi from Barcelona football club, the price might amount to billions. Messi and Ronaldo are the two best footballers the world has seen in a decade as the famous Ballon do Or’ that is an award given to the best soccer player in the planet exchanges from Messi to Ronaldo. It is fair to say that the Ronaldo-Messi era has seen a lot of clubs spend monies to find another Messi and Ronaldo for their clubs. The clubs do this unconsciously with an attempt to be the most dominant club in Europe. Chelsea football club which is a new footballing giant has invested in a player like Eden Hazard in an attempt to have their own future Messi in the club, with the player costing the club a lot of money. The same is true for Paris Saint German football club which seeks to conquer Europe in soccer by investing on Neymar and Mbappe whose transfer fees amount to more than $450 million combined. In a bid to find the next Messi or Ronaldo clubs have not been at peace engaging in transfer war to sign a soccer player with the richest clubs emerging victorious. The transfer windows are in January and August which sees some small clubs fearing to lose their players to bigger teams who usually offer better salaries. Soccer players are usually lured to clubs because of the attractiveness of the salary which highlights the fact that soccer is not only about entertainment but also business or money.

There are many ways one can involve themselves with beautiful game of soccer. One of those ways is becoming a soccer coach. The footballing world has seen a demand in soccer coaches with the best coaches for example Mourinho, Pep Gaurdiola, and Antonio Conte among others earning more than other coaches. Usually coaches come with different tactics or strategies in order for their team to eventually become champion for example Antonio Conte a Chelsea coach used a 3-4-3 and sometimes 3-5-2 formation to win the English Premier League title last season. The strange thing about the formation is that instead of the traditional four defenders three were used and this saw many clubs like Everton, Manchester United trying to adopt similar methods. In 2015 Mourinho won the title with Chelsea with a 4-2-3-1 formation, which shows that to win games one needs to be a football genius and understand the demands of the game. The formations used nowadays also explain the reason why when the transfer window opens many clubs spend huge sums of money to but strikers, that is; players who score goals as opposed to defenders. It is important to note that a coach can be a decisive factor in winning, having good soccer players and a poor coach is not a guarantee of titles. Coaches are known to have tacit knowledge on coaching whereas soccer players have tacit knowledge on playing.

It is sometimes unfair to think that soccer or football is mostly about entertainment discarding the bigger picture of law and politics. Football is about money, business, law and politics and without these football is not complete.