Tackling football's problems
By
Hassan El-Mistikawi
Egyptian soccer has been on a downhill slide since 1962, when it lost the African championship in Addis Ababa. It is a slide compounded by the absence of administration, planning and training, to the extent that we have now reached the point where the aim is simply to qualify for the World Cup.
What lies behind the decline?
Foremost among the problems is the lack of professionalism, not least on the part of football's administrators. There is a difference between football as an industry and as entertainment. The role of the association and the rights of the clubs have yet to be determined. Failure to understand these distinctions has led to a chaotic decision-making process.
Egyptian football is a sport that is financially bankrupt, and which offers spectators little in the way of entertainment or enjoyment. There is so little competition to speak of that once avid fans have abandoned Egypt's stadiums in favour of watching European football on satellite channels. There they see real football, and can watch players who do not get tired from running, who give their all for the full duration of the match.
The problems we must tackle now revolve around not just inculcating a professional attitude, but in administering it. How can it be possible that at the start of a season the association fixes a certain number of transfers of players, then a new set of rules is introduced limiting the number of transfers for each club to four players? How can we play one season with two sets of rules?
Clubs are still beginners in administration and in the business of buying and selling players. And if the sport is losing money, how can one explain the sudden rise in fees for players and coaches? How can a sport be losing money yet those who are involved in it be gaining from it? Does a factory lose money while its workers profit?
This week's Soapbox speaker is head of the sports department at the daily Al-Ahram.
