New Tournaments, New Appetites
The FIFA Club World Cup is upon us. 32 teams from across the 6 FIFA confederations, representing 20 different countries, at a month-long tournament held in the US. A previously maligned tournament (even by FIFA’s own Sepp Blatter) has seen a significant revamp which has global broadcast backing and offers a total prize fund of $1 billion for clubs to contest.
While it remains to be seen how the tournament is received by the football watching public, some recent research we conducted among Premier League fans in the UK gives organisers cause for optimism. 51% of fans said they thought new tournaments like the Club World Cup, the King’s League and World Sevens Football make football more interesting. A sentiment felt particularly sharply by 18–24-year-olds – the fans of the future, keen to see football innovation.
The Rise and Rise of Player Power
The build up to the tournament has also thrown up an interesting glimpse into the concept of player power and how that might manifest itself in football’s expansive future.
That glimpse comes courtesy of N’Golo Kante who according to reports is pushing for a short-term loan deal which will enable him to play in the Club World Cup and earn around £400,000 in the process. The extra twist in the tale? He’s moving from Saudi giants Al-Ittihad to their direct rivals Al-Hilal.
Player power is a well-discussed topic. The perfect storm of legal freedoms (started by the Bosman ruling in 1995), dizzying financial rewards (thanks to an explosion in revenue within the game) and the ubiquity of social media allowing players to cultivate powerful, personal brands has given players huge autonomy. And powerful leverage.
This power is increasingly reflected in the attitudes of fans toward players. Typically, this was exhibited in complaints around a lack of player loyalty, but sentiment is starting to shift, especially among younger football fans.
Star Quality and Shifting Loyalty
Research by Tapestry suggests that 18–24-year-old football fans are showing signs of siding with the players when it comes to loyalty. Demonstrating the degree to which players’ personal brands are emerging as a driving force in football.
Over half of 18–24-year-old UK football fans based in the UK prefer to follow a favourite player (or players) rather than a team. And this is having an impact on the ways they engage with football with 4 in 10 claiming they’d stop watching a game if their favourite player wasn’t selected or got subbed.
Their loyalty to clubs echoes that of the players too with around half claiming that if their favourite player joined another team, they’d go as far as shifting their support!
A Franchise Future
What could all of this mean for the future of football?
While the established competitions will no doubt continue to grow and thrive, conditions seem right for the emergence of a new type of tournament.
Could growing player power, combined with an increasing focus on individual stars and an openness to novel football tournaments (especially among younger fans) pave the way for a franchise-style competition akin to the IPL in cricket? Could we see a tournament built around current superstars plying their trade for a franchise rooted less in geography and heritage and driven more by marketability and global reach? Whether welcomed or resisted, shifting cultural and fan dynamics suggest that football’s next major transformation, hinted at by the likes of the Club World Cup, the King’s League and World Sevens Football, could already be on the horizon.