Stop the Robbery!

By: Inara | October 30th, 2007

I know, I rant about this at least once a day, but after I saw a link posted by Bob this morning, I just can’t help myself.

Reuters published an article about the nationalities of the players in the Champions League. It’s not that unexpected that Brazil has the most nationals in the CL, with 98 of the 770 registered players in the tournament. But guess what country is second, with 64?

If you guessed France, you’re absolutely right. But don’t you wish you could be wrong?

At first, it would almost seem like a good thing, but then you realize that France has only two teams in the Champions League this year. And then you have England, with only 26 nationals (and yet they have four teams)…

The full list:

* Brazil 98
* France 64
* Italy 55
* Spain 53
* Portugal 41
* Germany 38
* Turkey 37
* Argentina 32
* England 26
* Scotland 25
* Romania, Ukraine and Netherlands 23
* Serbia 22
* Czech Republic 20
* Norway 16
* Russia 15
* Ivory Coast 14
* Greece and Poland 10
* Denmark 8
* Sweden, Uruguay and Nigeria 7
* Croatia, Slovakia and Mexico 6
* Switzerland and Cameroon 5
* Belgium, Colombia, Ghana, Finland, Australia and Senegal 4
* Bosnia, Chile and Mali 3
* Albania, Paraguay, Israel, Belarus, Ireland, Peru, Northern Ireland, Austria and Georgia 2
* Wales, Macedonia, Montenegro, Lithuania, New Zealand, China, Honduras, Japan, Iceland, Togo, Congo, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Cyprus, Guinea, Ecuador and USA 1

So what does this mean? Basically, France is the second highest exporter of footballing talent to Europe’s major leagues, which is ironic because France is ranked fourth by UEFA and is generally considered to be one of the “Big Five” leagues. Now, I’m not much of a supporter of Michel Platini, but I’m starting to understand why he’s been pushing to limit the amount of foreign nationals each team can possess.

Neither the Bundesliga, La Liga, the EPL, nor Serie A are drained of their best youth talents on a regularly basis like France. Something needs to be done about France’s hemorrhage of its talent. I don’t know what, but the more I think about it, the more concerned I am about Ligue 1’s future. It’s like the chicken and the egg dilemma: France loses its best players because it’s an unattractive league, and yet how can it be an attractive league if the best players leave?

If players like Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery, William Gallas, David Trezeguet, Phillipe Mexes, etc still played in France, public interest in L1 would be huge, which would mean more money from broadcasters and healthier finances, which in turn would allow L1 to keep these players.

Part of the reason French clubs are so handicapped is because of the DNCG, which closely monitors club expenses and penalizes them if they run into the red, something unique to France. Additionally, France wouldn’t be France without the high taxes, which burden clubs and turn away players who don’t have to lose half their paycheck to the state.

It’s an awful situation, but I can’t think of a solution. All I know is that a solution needs to be found. Even right now, L1 is in danger of losing their very best talents – Samir Nasri, Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, and Jeremy Menez.

The question is, what can be done to make France more competitive? If it’s only a matter of lowering taxes, is that too high a price to pay, when you take into account the good that money does?

Category: Ligue 1

Tags: Ligue 1

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Stop the Robbery!

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