The Influence Of Oil Money In football
Written by Patrick Echatah
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s acquisition of Manchester City was the beginning of an ambitious plan that will change world football forever. The 2008 deal made Manchester City one of the richest clubs in the world and led them to absolute dominance.
In 2002, City were in the second division of English football. The cash injection drew attention to the England club, allowed them attract superstars including Sergio Aguero, and all that investment yielded dividends when they went on to conquer England in 2012.
The influence of oil money in football is a double-edged sword; it has had both positive and negative effects to the beautiful game. The fact that there has been much development in the football but there has been a shift in power among the traditional European clubs who seem to be on a slippery-slope due to the influx of cash to unknown “small” clubs that have little football heritage.
What is “Oil Money”?
Oil money generally is wealth that has been gotten through the petroleum. Football is a profitable sport that has always attracted for millionaires, billionaires, mega-rich businessmen and wealthy individual investors. The sport grants access to a special global market and brings with it a certain level of prestige, particularly so when it comes to successful clubs.
Since the turn of the millennium there has been an influx of so-called ‘oil money’ into football, with a number of clubs across the world.
Examples of club owned by oil moguls are Manchester City and PSG, another club owned by a wealthy owner is Chelsea. We can all see how the fortunes of these clubs have changed drastically, all three clubs have reached the prestigious champions league final with Chelsea having two UCL trophies.
The negative effect of “oil money” in European football is that it has turned clubs with football heritage to small clubs particularly clubs those owned by fans such as Benfica, Ajax and to a large extent, FC Barcelona. Clubs sponsored by oil moguls have found a way to by-pass the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rule, making outrageous bid for players and leaving European heavyweights incapacitated.
There must be a regulation given by the governing body to curb the menace of these oil rich clubs for the love of the game.
Clubs with footballing heritage can’t compete favourably with their counterparts, Ajax who have 4 UCL titles, Aston Villa have 1 UCL title, Nottingham forest with 2 UCL, Benfica with 2 UCL, and AC Milan have 7 UCL titles but sadly, these clubs has become relatively “small” in today’s game.
If something isn’t done to regulate the influx of “oil money” in European football, more clubs with footballing heritage and pedigree will slowly become irrelevant in the near future. As long as the oil industry is entangled in a socio-economic and sports, controversy will always be closely-knitted with affiliated clubs.
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