the Sun never sets on the Empire of football football's influence has kept growing throughout the world to reach a level that could well be the ultimate level of globalization a quote by Pascal bonifus director of The paris-based Institute of international and strategic relations in that world of globalization The Hub of all things football is the European continent and the regulator of said continent is the union of European football associations or just UFA an organization that contains the biggest and most ey caching footballing countries clubs players and infrastructure on the planet an organization that raked in over 4. 3 billion EUR in 2223 and based on the fact that that figure was 5. 7 billion in 2021 a year with a covid European Championship they are poised to make an absolute killing in 2024 and when you take into into consideration the fact that 93.
5% of all earnings are reportedly funneled back into the participating clubs you realize that things are only going to ramp up in the future UEFA is a very interesting case study an organization that predates the European Union but was once a very small player in a FIFA and South American dominated football landscape organizers of the biggest competitions on the planet that feature hundreds of clubs going toe to- toe often concurrently in dozens of cities an incredibly impressive feat off the pitch they are in organizations so large that some believe them to be above governmental Authority corruption scandals Shady business greed and more have all been associated with them in one way or another but of course even though that's what many people choose to focus on that doesn't paint the full picture so in this video we're going to aim to do just that hello everyone truly hope you're all doing well welcome back to the channel the 2024 UFA Euro was the first normal Euro in 8 years one country no Co and it's been fantastic UEFA must be smiling ear to ear then it got me thinking even further as a nonprofit what's their business model and what has had to happen to make it so now UFA is an example of an establishment that has benefited greatly from the notion that it has inherent Legacy and Prestige but in order to achieve that level of regard you have to start somewhere and on that note it's impossible to understand the origins of UEFA without briefly talking about FIFA the Federation of International Football associations I. E FIFA was established in 1904 and was done so under the Mandate of becoming the global umbrella for all footballing activities across the globe initially they would just organize International fixtures and events but that turned into almost all-encompassing football governance in general however for the first couple of Decades of their existence they failed to grab a foothold on control of football worldwide it was a bit of a legitimacy problem among others the English and several South American countries all refused to completely fall under their Authority the English Football Association is the oldest on the planet being founded in 1863 and conall was founded back in 1960 on top of that the world was in a weird position overall Wars social and political change economic turmoil countries splitting apart and coming together try governing that successfully but as things progressed the power and stature of FIFA as an organization with political power and Status increased a good example of that is that several Nations joined FIFA before they joined the United Nations highlighting its position as a powerful political stakeholder as the sport grew even more key figures such as presidents Xiao havalon and SE blatter were able to capitalize on the popularity and commercialization of football worldwide massive sponsorships broadcasting deals and much more made the FIFA World Cup a highly lucrative showcase but in the words of Ellen Tomlinson a prolific author of several best-selling books regarding the social scientific study of sports and its biggest institutions the culture of corruption and personal gain has long been end mic in the FIFA family this quote comes directly from his 2014 paper published in the Journal of sport and Society on the governance of FIFA decisions to hold International tournaments in certain countries under the table payments to officials and much more have followed them throughout to quote another article on football governance this one by theophilos poopus havalon and blatter were so influential for FIFA and football that they turned FIFA into a centralized organization where the absolute power was in the hands of the president anyway that's just to give a bit of context we don't want to go too much off topic this is not a FIFA video UFA was founded 50 years after FIFA in 1954 after many larger European nations felt as though FIFA weren't serving their best interests with those interests being growing and promoting football within Europe which only makes sense FIFA are a global operation but at the same time to this very day almost all of FIFA's presidents have been of European descent Jules R the longest serving FIFA president and the man that the World Cup trophy is named after was a Frenchman to this day only two men born outside of Europe have been presidents of FIFA so you think that someone would have sooner created a continental body seeing as there was already so much representation on an Institutional level regardless this is what the overall pyramid looks like in the Years following when it came to the governing of football within Europe you can slot in whatever Federation you want right here as it would remain true for every continent the early days between FIFA and UEFA were a little confusing and probably contentious there were people on the executive committee of both organizations and responsibilities and legalities weren't completely clear but with increased professionalization of the sport the rise of television and more European football became the golden standard even though FIFA is one level above UEFA it's worth noting that the two do have similarities for starters they're the two largest footballing governing bodies in the world and they're both nonprofits headquartered in Switzerland which you know is interesting however they do have some fundamental differences for example FIFA haven't had to deal with the level of authority of geopolitical institutions in the way that UEFA has FIFA in a lot of ways have gone unchecked historically I mean they only established an Ethics Committee in 2006 to keep their own governance in check some 100 10 2 years after formation however UFA are heavily regulated which if we're all being honest is probably a good thing depending on where you stand it makes them less susceptible to several forms of corruption not impervious but less susceptible and being less susceptible is good and being protected outright is even better which is why I want to pause the video quickly to talk about a different kind of threat this video was sponsored by nordvpn a VPN is a tool that allows you to do many many things like select a country through which you connect to the internet I often use nordvpn to connect to the country from where the subject of the video that I'm making is from it just makes it a lot easier to access local news reports but most people use VPN to access Netflix as each country has a different catalog at its core a VPN is a tool that can protect your online identity but novpn is much more it is a threat protection tool that allows you to block malware block U of ads block web tracking and protect your data the internet is like the Untamed wild beautiful when it wants to be um dangerous more often than you should risk node VPN is here to help if you want to get yourself protected today you can use my custom link it is nordvpn. com Iconic VPN you can find it in the description this will get you a 2-year membership with four extra months free plus there is a 30-day money back guarantee if you're not satisfied without sponsor like this it would be hard to make these long detailed videos and I'm trying to get more of them out more quickly so thanks to nordvpn for sponsoring this video let's get back to UEFA UEFA costs a wide net it consists of 55 National Football associations which may surprise some to hear because the European Union only consists of 27 member states brexit means brexit but of course there are also other states like like aeran or Georgia or turkey or Kosovo who aren't members of the EU for one reason or another and if you think I'm going to go into detail for why any of that is the case that's not going to happen as I mentioned earlier UFA as an organization actually predates the Treaty of Rome which essentially established the formation of the European economic community in 1957 football is much more than just a sport it's a cash cow it's a way to excite and control the masses and even more so it's a geopolitical tool and because they are such big players the EU has had to keep a steady eye on UFA today UFA and the EU share a working relationship they seem to be willing to meet each other halfway when it comes to big decisions UA know that they need to comply but the EU knows that football is unique in its place in society but that hasn't always been the case in the words of borha Garcia in 2007 another sport governance specialist in the journal contemporary European research UEFA and the European Union were historically engaged in a period of intense confrontation during the most hostile times the main reason for all of this was player transfers footballing authorities have long thought that players are not the same as regular employees and thus should not be treated as such the biggest proof of this was the delayed professionalization of the sport which only really happened in the late 1900s across the board as well as FIFA's Legacy International ational transfer system A system that relied on nationality quotas and odd payment arrangements in a nutshell prior to the 1990s clubs were only allowed a fixed number of international players in their squad which was not that high it kind of just discouraged people from hiring outside the country this was said to be put in place to preserve the quality of each national team and the transfer system was such that if a player's contract had ran out their club would still be entitled to a fee this was said to protect smaller clubs from spending big on training promising Talent just for bigger clubs to swoop in and take the player for free leaving them with nothing when their contract is up now on some level the reasoning for all of this is fair but fundamentally it also limits a Player's Choice of potential employment as well as the pot that a club can tap into for potential employees all of which go against the eu's freedom of movement and competition's policies something had to be done the EU and UFA had gotten into courtroom scuffles on the pass but nothing too major that was until December of 1995 Jean Mark Bossman Bossman a Belgian man wasn't exactly the most well-known nor most talented football player nonetheless when his contract with Belgian Club RC lez expired in 1990 and he agreed a new deal with Don Kirk in France the deal fell through because Le weren't happy with the proposed fee imagine you start your first job and they train you in the industry but you're only signed on a one-year call contract your contract doesn't get renewed so you have to find another job you know to live however the company that did not want to renew your contract refuses to let you earn a living that's that's what happened here and that's what was happening across Europe Bossman Su Le UEFA and FIFA and won and as a result the nationalities quota was abolished transfer windows were created training fees were restricted to youth players and contracts were suggested to only L up to 5 years in the wake of all of this FIFA and UEFA were not happy the EU is just a regional organization which does not even represent all the countries in the European continent FIFA president Seth blatter had this to say regarding the eu's regulation in some years later when you have 11 foreigners in a team this is not good for the development of football the EU says that nationality quotas are not possible because of free circulation of workers but in football principles are different you cannot consider a footballer like any normal worker because you need 11 to play a match and they are more artists than workers apparently SE blatter never wants artists to leave their place of birth that's tough UA president at the time Leonard Johansson strongly felt that this decision would spell quote nothing short of disaster and that it was made by people that were quote trying to destroy football so for mainly those reasons UEFA was initially extremely hostile towards the EU and their interventions on their dealings they felt that certain laws just shouldn't apply to neither them nor football but eventually once they realized that it was in their best interest to cooperate with the ultimate lawmakers of the region and the people that could make or break them as an organization it seems that they were more willing to cooperate in the long term this mindset has allowed UEFA to negotiate their massive TV deals and media rights packages organized huge multinational tournaments and grew beyond their Wildest Dram without major EU interference I think UFA and the EU are organizations that could be said to have similar objectives here at UEFA our main objective is to preserve competition in football if the competition is not perceived as fair then we lose our stakeholders and we lose our legitimacy the EU also aims to provide equal opportunities and Fair competition in that case economic competition for companies and consumers a quote by an anonymous UEFA official back in 2007 now that we have a bit of context regarding where ufer have come from we come to the part that we're all familiar with their unrivaled success as I mentioned earlier on UA organizes a large handful of showcase events of course we have the Euro which is always a mustsee and has unbelievable potential for incredible stories but their Crown Jewel is none other than the UEFA Champions League as of 202 2425 36 teams will participate and 189 matches will be played last season's final was reportedly watched by 450 million people live around the world by comparison the 2024 Super Bowl is set have amassed roughly 160 million views worldwide UEFA shares its projected revenue and distributions to all its member associations months prior to the following football season here it is on screen in 20242 excluding what comes from the European Championship UFA projected that its revenue is set to cross 4.
4 billion e and the champions league is projected to Encompass 2. 5 billion of that with the rest being made up from the Europa League and the conference League these are Big sums we're talking about and a large part of the success is ow to former UA for president Leonard Johansson we spoke about him briefly earlier on he came into office in 19 90 Johansson together with the UEFA General Gard AA LED UEFA into an era of greatness by harnessing what some refer to as the Golden Triangle football sponsorship and television in 1992 the European Cup was rebranded as the Champions League an organization that once only collected Revenue through gate receipts and inconsequential sponsorships was now taking full advantage of all of what I've just spoken about and as a result everyone their particip ated was able to reap the rewards too some say the champions league is bigger than the World Cup to the dismay of sebl it definitely crosses geographical boundaries in a way that I don't think many people expected Real Madrid a Spanish club had one Spaniard in their starting lineup in their most recent Win Manchester City an English football club had only two Englishmen in their starting lineup when they won they are also owned by emirati royalty I could go on and on you want to play in the Champions League if you can't because of your bad hip I can relate more than you know then you want to watch it you want to read about the biggest players about the biggest stories you want to watch interviews buy merchandise travel to stadiums throw profanities at rival fans on Reddit get pissed in a bar and lose all your friends while you stumble alone in the streets of a city you're unfamiliar with happy that at the very least no one you know is around to watch you and what's likely your most shameful hour I mean you want to eat crisps with G HRI and David Beckham all of that minus one or two points is what UEFA is selling and we are buying all the time every time happily today's UCL is the Pinnacle of football it's something worth protecting and it also explains why a lot of people have seen potential for opportunity at the start of this section I spoke about how all of this success is unrivaled it is but that's not for lack of trying of course I'm talking about the Everlasting threats of Breakaway leagues this is a video about football governance and the UEFA and the fifas of the world so naturally a question that may come to your mind is what power do those being governed have becomes up a heck of a lot I showed this figure earlier on which is an adaptation of a similar figure from the borka Garcia paper I mentioned but as he goes on to State later in this paper the triangles evolved over Time Thief Pro is there to assist in player Grievances and give them a voice and the European clubs are Association is there for the clubs to add a bit of context in 1998 a group was formed called the G14 this was a group of 14 of the biggest clubs in Europe's biggest leagues the group's purpose was quite simple provide a unified voice for the clubs in discussions with the governing bodies of football UEFA and FIFA but what it actually ended up being was an elitist group of the big boys looking after only the interests of the big boys This was later disbanded and the European clubs Association was established in 2008 and put in place as things stand there are 512 members for the most part what many of these discussions boil down to is requests for more benefits from UEFA more LAX rules more leniency and playing schedules or more money for one reason or another reform as history has shown many times if that doesn't happen we get a Super League FIFA doesn't have this problem I mean who else is going to organize a World Cup Cup who has the influence to bring together all of the confederations countries and resources to create a large tournament that all the biggest players in the world will join and embrace to create a tournament better than one with a century of built-in Prestige nobody For Better or For Worse we are stuck with Fifa today I feel uh a monopoly but UEFA isn't exactly like that remember the story I told earlier on about the rebranding of the European Cup in 1992 well in truth this only happened due to UEFA kind of being strong armed by among others a disgruntled owner of probably the biggest Club on the planet billionaire TV magnate and soon to be prime minister of Italy Sylvio bisone of AC Milan now at the time the European Cup was a straight knockout tournament from day one winners of the domestic leagues were drawn against one another and straight from game one if it was your time to go you were gone imagine a world where champions of Italy a Diego maradana LED Napoli and champions of Spain and amilio buano led Real Madrid were not only given two games to progress but were drawn against each other in the first round in 1987 that's the exact scenario that made bone decide to speak to investors planners and various other parties while investigating a new league with a new format one that guaranteed not only several games but money and coverage for every qualified team team UA realized change was more profitable and after a few short years group stages and pots were introduced and the competition has been expanding ever since a super league is nothing new in 1998 all The Usual Suspects Milan United Liverpool Real Madrid were implicated in a breakaway attempt codenamed project Gandalf I'm not joking entry was based on part Merit and part status and as per the telegraph the participating clubs would sh share a $3.
