In the Belgian podcast MidMid, the ugly side of football is discussed with the hosts Sam Kerkhofs and Evert Winkelmans. Thomas Peeters, sports economist at Erasmus School of Economics, offers his views on some controversial topics.
Are the big football clubs in Belgium too powerful?
Peeters: There is a conglomerate of companies that obviously do everything to promote their interests. Who is seen and how it works with TV rights and money is mainly determined by the biggest players on the football stage. A second question is: what will be left if a deal falls through? There is a lot at stake and this partly explains the skewed balance of power.
Transfer system
According to Peeters, it is better if the current transfer system ceases to exist. He also immediately comes up with an alternative: it could and should work just like with a normal employer. If you get an offer, you should be free to leave for another club. Clubs like Ajax are big winners in with regards to the current transfer system: they buy a player for a relatively small amount, while they sell them for millions. Big clubs don't want to pay the top price all the time, so they bring in lots of players. The result: talent that has to sit on the bench, a waste.
Trading players
Club owners expand clubs and trade players, which can generate large sums of money. According to Peeters, however, it remains difficult to distinguish between owners who do this with the wrong intentions and owners who started with clean hands and still have the best interests of a club at heart. In Belgium, there is no minimum wage in football, which makes it possible to draft players at a very low price. The legislation ensures that a purchase of a player in the Netherlands is sometimes five times more expensive than a purchase in Belgium. It remains, says Peeters, a grey area: some investments work out, others are less fortunate.
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You can listen to the podcast of MidMid, 27 January 2022, here.
