Football is a game and business as well.

1. FIFA World Cup 2014
It is a big business event. Poor people
have been removed from their
neighborhoods. The FIFA World Cup in
South Africa in 2010 left behind public
debt and stadiums with a useless
oversized capacity. The preparations in
Qatar have exposed modern slavery and
show the corruption within the
anachronistic FIFA system. Solidar Swiss
is actively campaigning on doubtful FIFA
practices, globally and within their
country (where FIFA is tax exempted).
All football fans are excited by the
games that will result in a champion
from the Global South this time, but
only if fair competition conditions are
guaranteed.
The football system touches ground
with abnormal salaries for professional
players who have become objects of
speculation themselves through the
transfer market. A European court
decision on free movement of workers
that paved this path. But how does one
justify the waste of millions that over
indebted clubs pay for their players?
How to justify the modern slavery of
young talents that are brought from the
Global South to European clubs at very
young age and who become objects of
speculation? Football is a game but
behind it is a clear expression of our
post-modern societies in crisis.
Sajid Imtiaz: Expert Member CDKN, Member Advertising Age, Member Harvard Business Review