eastcentral1 wrote:
An easy solution to wc qualifiers would have been to merge them with other tournaments e.g. conmebol standings or euro finishing places. The main issue with this, however, is that UEFA, FIFA, conmebol and the national FAs each have their own TV deals, and for each of them it is important that the show goes on.
Well, people are tending to look at this from a Euro-centric perspective and especially from the viewpoint of how things impact FPL. There are other things to consider than the PL and its fantasy game. Primarily because of historic economic imbalances, the big money in club football is in Europe's big-5 leagues. Not only do they suck in the best talent from across the continent but nowadays they take it from across the globe.
South America is a football hotbed, always has been, but they are used to their best players departing for Europe where the fans can't see them other than on TV. They therefore set great store in their national teams (much more so than in Europe by and large) and have always taken pride in seeing the European-based players coming home and playing in the national shirt. International football therefore has primacy for them (same in Africa) over club football.
FIFA (whatever you think of it as an organisation) has a duty to foster and stand up for football everywhere, not just in Europe. It also has a financial interest in asserting the standing of international football against the club game. That's where the situation stands. You can say that too many/too lengthy international breaks affect the club season. FIFA would say that the club season should be shorter to accommodate international football, and they do say so because their recommendation is for 18-team leagues and only one domestic cup.
I'm not saying I agree with FIFA. Personally I'm a Chelsea supporter that goes to games and I don't give a damn about England, mostly don't even bother watching them on TV nowadays. But you have to realise that it looks different elsewhere. People complain about meaningless games like England v Andorra but qualifying is generally much harder in CONMEBOL and CAF where there are no minnows in the way there are in Europe.
If you try to skew the balance more towards the interests of the clubs you are arguing that economic power can reasonably be used to bludgeon down the less advantaged and put them in their place. The ESL, which everyone objected to, was attempting to do that same thing. So it seems to me a hypocrisy to be all for fans rights and a level playing field when it comes to your club but not when it comes down to Chilean or Mexican fans whose prime priority is to be able to watch their best players in the national shirt.
This isn't a simple matter when looked at in the round, that's what I'm trying to get at really.
