The article below was assigned to our summer 2026 intern, Hugo Smith, and was written under the close supervision of our Team. Hugo, who attends the Heritage Private School in Cyprus and is soon entering his final year, explores the fascinating evolution of football from a community-driven recreational pastime into a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Through an insightful analysis of its historical development, strategic commercialization, and modern economic complexities, he examines how football has become a powerful phenomenon that shapes national economies, employment, and social cohesion. It is a timely and thought-provoking piece that highlights the delicate balance between financial growth and the preservation of the sport’s authentic spirit, offering valuable perspectives on the future of the world’s most popular game. In a philosophising and mature manner Hugo wonders whether the price of success for almost everything in life is to lose control over it, especially in today’s era of globalization and social media frenzy.
Introduction
Football used to be a community driven sport played on religious holidays for recreational fun. Today it’s a multi-billion dollar industry with billions of fans around the world. Children dream of one day becoming a star like their idols before them, and the emotions of fans lie completely on the back of their teams. Global brands beg for advertisement and millions of dollars are spent on sponsorships. Tourists visit countries for the sole purpose of watching a match. But how did football become this global sensation?
The history of football
The football that we know, and love today was created in 1863 in London where the first Football Association was created. This meant that the rules for the sport became standardized and many clubs were created. Many monumental clubs that we know today such as Manchester United and West Ham were formed by factory workers who only played for recreational fun and leisure. It was only in 1885 where professional football was legalized and 1888 when the first league was founded. By the end of the 19th century there were already thousands of fans watching games.
The turning point
In the past, global football events such as the world cup had to be funded publicly by government and taxpayers’ money and had much fewer participants. The first world cup held in Uruguay in 1930 consisted of only 13 teams. Most of the time governments lost money or barely broke even. However, in
1974 everything changed. FIFA, the international governing body of football, elected a new president. His name was Joao Havelange and he stated, “I have come to sell a product called football”.
Joao Havelange had a different mentality to the other presidents before him. He saw football as an opportunity for not just money but also power and glamour. He expanded the world cup finals from a 16-nation tournament to a 24 and then a 32 nation tournament and invited almost every country to be a part of FIFA. Furthermore, he was the first to bring in global sponsors like Coca-Cola and Adidas and exploit TV rights and advertisements for what they could be used for. This caused the 1974 world cup in West Germany to be a huge monetary success bringing in around 50 million dollars of profit.
Football as a modern business
Nowadays football is largely about money. Clubs have evolved to have so many different jobs available from sporting director and CEO to human resources all to allow the club to profit as much as possible. There are laws set by football associations limiting the amount that clubs are allowed to spend based on their profit, however many loopholes have been found to weave away from this obstacle and in many cases, clubs are spending ludicrous amounts of money on a famous player which allows them to capitalize on their name. When Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami in 2023 the club sold a record breaking amount of over 500 thousand shirts in just 24 hours of his arrival. Furthermore, top football players who may have a career from 15 to 20 years can get contracts worth millions. The highest paid player,Cristiano
Ronaldo, has a contract worth 300 million dollars per year. And just the average player in the Premier League makes around 80 thousand pounds per week.
Leagues sell the TV coverage rights and advertisements to the highest bidder. The premier league, which is the top league in both England and Europe, generates over 3.8 billion pounds per year on just TV rights deals. Many new competitions are being held, or old ones are altered to allow more games to be played hence giving these corporations more profit. For example, previously the Champions League made approximately 3.5 billion euros in revenue. However, due to a change in the format, more games are now being played, and UEFA are expected to make an additional 1 billion euros in revenue. Additionally, the Conference League was founded in just 2021 and brings in an extra 280 million euros, and the Nations League, founded in 2018, brings in over 500 million euros annually.
The benefits of football
Football brings so many positives into the world. Since football is such a large industry it provides so many jobs both directly and indirectly. It offers so many job opportunities at clubs from coaching staff to administration who work directly with clubs and football but also allows jobs to be made from media broadcasting and manufacturers who build and create football gear. From only the world cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico it is estimated that in the US alone over 185 thousand full time jobs were created.
Additionally, football is a large provider to governments around the world. Not only does it supply governments with billions in revenue, but it also attracts tourists from all around the world. In fact, in the United Kingdom football provides the government with almost 4.5 billion pounds annually and a study by
Joe Prince Wright on NBC found that in 2014 over 800 thousand tourists coming to the United Kingdom included a live football match as part of their visit.
Furthermore, football is also able to cause urban regeneration. When new stadiums are built in more neglected areas, the infrastructure around them is developed. This creates more jobs in the area, attracts more domestic tourists and upgrades the local transport. This then changes a neglected, derelict town into a new revitalized version. Children who grow up in poorer areas play football as an escape which keeps them away from bad habits and helps all children worldwide exploit their talents.
Last but not least, football brings joy, leisure and an unbelievable change of feelings to millions of people around the world. It is an escape from the difficulties of modern society for even just a few hours regardless of age, gender or race.
The costs of football
Unfortunately, football does not only come with positives. There are also negatives that come with the new commercialized sport. More games are created to be played in a season. This may seem like a positive on the outside, however with all these extra games, injuries become more likely. Players are unable to keep up with such large seasons and end up fatigued which causes the quality of some games that are played to be lower. According to the British Journal of Sports Medicine, in recent years in European clubs, hamstring injury rates have skyrocketed from 12% to 24%.
Additionally, while football unites many, it also fuels anger between fans of rival clubs. This can cause huge street fights, hooliganism and vandalism of public property. This then means the government must take the time and money to repair and fix the damage caused by these fans. An example of this extremism is the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985. Before the European Cup final of Juventus vs Liverpool, the Liverpool fans charged and broke through the dividing wall and charged at the rival supporters. This led
to crushing 39 innocent fans to death and injuring over 600. Fortunately, since this disaster took place, a lot has happened to prevent these situations. Stadiums are now policed more, and heavier penalties are implemented to fans who would rather cause trouble than enjoy the beautiful game.
Football also has a large environmental footprint. The expansion of global tournaments has led to a large increase in global travel causing the release of the equivalent to 65 million tons of carbon dioxide.
Moreover, football nowadays has so many stoppages to make sure every decision is perfect which leaves fans in boredom for the duration of the check. Many fans around the world, despite its ability to make correct decisions, dislike the addition of VAR to the game, as the beauty of football lies even in the unintentional mistakes and wrong calls.
Conclusion
To conclude, football can never go back to what it was, and some argue that with these large corporations running it, the game is losing its magic and romanticism. Error used to be a part of the game which made it human. Now, with some of the rules, the game is becoming more robotic and static. Furthermore, football should not be seen as a way to make billions but instead a way to inspire the world and bring the globe closer together. Having said all that, football does still bring so much joy to billions around the world. It provides millions of people with jobs that would not exist without it and even during events like the World Cup, thousands of different people from different places interact and learn more about each other and their nations, and that can only be good as it creates tolerance, friendship and understanding.
Bibliography
https://www.footballhistory.org/
https://medium.com/@theeconomicsaunter/the-world-cup-economy-b0c8cddce89f
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/16/joao-havelange-obituary
https://gameofthepeople.com/2025/10/27/the-impact-and-influence-of-the-1974-world-cup/
https://www.ucfb.ac.uk/news/more-games-more-money-understanding-the-champions-leagues-new-structure/
https://www.football-coefficient.eu/money/
https://www.pl-football.com/what-is-the-salary-of-a-premier-league-player-
https://www.nbcsports.com/soccer/news/study-800000-tourists-attended-football-games-in-england
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjsports/57/5/292.full.pdf
https://theconversation.com/football-has-a-real-fossil-fuel-problem-and-its-not-sustainable-270400
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fifa-2026-task-force/
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