Md. Shamsul Islam, Executive Editor, Our Time: With FIFA World Cup 2018 now stealing the limelight, it’s time that we inspect the ‘greatest show on earth’ from a political economy perspective.
Football is a huge industry now. As the value of the broadcasting rights is witnessing a considerable growth, football industry is also thriving. For instance, the total European football market revenue rose to 25.5 billion euros in 2016/17, an amount which impacted upon the region’s economic and political outlook noticeably.
So, it is no wonder when critics argue that football is sanitized now, through dexterous use and abuse of the media, to make it consumable across the globe. These strategies are, no doubt, paying off. The extreme commodification of football, in line with the capitalist economy, is also compounding the questions of identity among the fans or supporters of different distant leagues or countries.
Bangladesh can be a case in point here. Without the country in the World Cup fanfare, political scientists will have to work hard to get the answer as to why frenzied fans of Argentina or Brazil here are killing each other with those countries’ flags in hands. There are also reports that village people are selling their cattle to buy wide-screen television sets or projectors, much to the delight of the multinationals across countries.
In this context, one can critically analyze the World Cup’s economic aspect, like the issues of trade more deeply. The amount of sales of shirts, jerseys, flags even in a low-profile country of the global sports arena, like that of Bangladesh, would raise the eyebrows of many economists.
Neo-Marxists may find it pertinent to relate how this World Cup is an attempt to uplift the Russian Premier League into the category of ‘big five’ European leagues, including English Premier League or Spanish La Liga. Football is also a parameter to watch the transition of economies in countries. For example, the ongoing football fiesta is also witnessing the surge of Russian football – how the football industry of an erstwhile socialist nation is making its entry into the capitalist and neo-liberalist economic structure of European leagues.
Russian media reported that their country is spending a total of $ 14.2 billion as the World Cup hosts. Though Russian President Vladimir Putin was optimistic that this would bring an economic boost but organizations like Moody’s has projected those benefits would be only short-lived.
Many are now of the view that the football extravaganza is the most politicized ever that started with the bribery in the voting process, resulting in the fall of many FIFA stalwarts. Russia, already under Western economic sanction, had to face the call for boycott movement from many quarters, for its alleged involvement in an attempt to kill a former KGB officer and his daughter in the UK last March.
In reality, the global football spectacle is not only a sport as we once used to think. Another important area to explore can be the politics-trade-football nexus and the media’s role therein. Many issues of national and international importance are now either sidelined or suppressed from the attention of the global citizens.
In our country, the people are now heavily obsessed with the biggest football fantasy fanned by the national and international media. The World Cup craze among the masses has crossed the entire limit, where we are not a party at all. Our ranking among the football nations is now at its lowest ebb.
Let’s reflect on how to find ways to make football more inclusive as a sport, rather than just watching it as a media show.