Has European football sold its soul?

The four champions league finalists are Manchester City, Paris San Germain, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

The first two clubs are literally owned by Gulf states with awful human rights records. Chelsea, the original oligarch team, are the possession of a corrupt Russian billionaire friend of Putin.

That leaves Real Madrid, the plucky underdog once described as the 'best embassy Spain ever had.' This was when Spain was run by Franco's dictatorship.

Unless you have massive money, you cant compete at the highest level and some of that money comes from some seriously dodgy places.

Next season, there will be more Champions League games as the groups are expanded. Which means more predictability and less drama. Crucially it means more guaranteed income for the biggest clubs.

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Kwek00 · 41-45, M

Hasn't a lot of the soul of a football team, gone to waste after Bosmans won his arrest? Which allowed it to become more and more a money game? This isn't new, it's just evolved since then point.

On the other hand, it does concentrate quality, which pushes people to a higher level. You can really see some good games with all the quality on the field. But it does destroy the soul of local teams, which have become nothing more then business that hire mercenaries at a high rate.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@Kwek00 Yes, I completely understand why Bosman did what he did.

It would never have happened in England because we had a tribunal system at the time. An independent panel assessed a players value for tranfer fee when out of contract. It was a good compromise which protected club's assets and also allowed players freedom.

I think a bigger problem is foreign ownership. Especially im England, how big a club you are depends on the owner, not the fans. For example, City have a lot less fans than Liverpool or Arsenal but a lot more money.

Kwek00 · 41-45, M

@Burnley123 Yeah, well, even if it was ownership that wasn't foreign. Then they would still attract sponsors from big corporations to buy players. One way or another, there will always be money pouring in, because no one was just spending the money they get from supporters to buy their players in the first place.