Watching European Club Football…The Craze In Town

Football, referred to as soccer by some has greatly evolved and has come a long way. From being a means of entertainment and display of one's talent, football has become really big business and source of employment for many with talent, passion and energy. The most popular sport has produced legends who are celebrated and accorded utmost respect. From players, coaches, physical trainers, referees, etc, the game has indelibly etched the names of some fantastic persons on the arc of history.

Club football which is most often described as professional football has brought a new dimension to the sport in terms of competition, business, payroll, publicity, community development, to mention but a few. The late nineteenth century saw the real development of club football, mostly in England (regarded as the home of football) and other countries in Europe notably Spain, Italy and France.

At around the same time, club football sprouted in other parts of the world as well, as everybody caught the fever football brought into the world. Footballers play for a fee and club owners run the club with funds from sponsors, cash from trophy triumphs, etc. In the early 20th century, Ghana caught the club football fever with the formation of clubs like Accra Hearts of Oak, Kumasi Asante Kotoko and others.

These teams displayed excellent, exquisite and remarkable football to all who admired the game in Ghana and have also brought into the fold of the sport people who hitherto didn't like the game. Soon rivalry grew between Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko, who have become the two greatest club sides in Ghana.

Football lovers in Ghana were very passionate about premier league football in Ghana featuring clubs like Olympics, Real Tamale United (RTU), etc in addition to the two biggest clubs mentioned earlier. Many trooped to parks and stadiums to watch matches of their favourite clubs. Passion engulfed many who admired the game.

Gradually, colts' football developed and clubs played at third division, second division and first division respectively in addition to the premier league. Teams which perform very well move to the next level and those who are found at the very bottom of the table are relegated. You are assured that every weekend, you will be treated to nice football games to relieve stress from either work or school the week past. The hearts of many were warmed to football. The arrival of television helped spread the football fever further in Ghana as those who couldn't watch games outside their communities could afford to watch them so long as TV networks were streaming them.

During all this period, majority of football loving Ghanaians couldn't watch club football action in different leagues across Europe, because TV networks in Ghana couldn't stream them because of lack of media rights as well as under-developed capacity. However, the football community in Ghana is treated to highlights of club football in Europe weekly.

Brief highlights of those dead (already played) matches immediately showed that the game in Europe has far developed than what is witnessed in Ghana. Longing for sports highlights to come weekly has become the norm and many are seen glued to their TV sets usually on Monday evenings to watch action from Europe. When finally, Kwabena Yeboah of Sports Highlights fame on Ghana Television (GTV) decides to show club football across Europe, many breathe a sigh of relief and position themselves well to watch phenomenal and interesting football on display.

The yearn to watch European club football gradually eroded the passion, enthusiasm and vigor of paying attention to the domestic league in Ghana. This may not be the case only in Ghana, but across many other nations in the world.

With the rapid spread of cable television (DSTV and others) in Ghana, little is heard of the domestic league. Today, when you ask football fans for details pertaining to the premier league in Ghana, the response is likely to be ' we don't really follow the domestic league'. Why is this so? Club football in Europe is better organized and financed than in Ghana.

The result of the better organisation and financing is the spectacular and interesting display of football that has caught the attention of the whole world. Young and old people alike today are passionate supporters of European clubs and they spend most of their time watching their clubs and reading about them as well as their players. They spend their money on club paraphernalia and adorn themselves in their club jerseys before going to watch matches of their clubs.

It is not uncommon these days to come across passionate and fierce arguments between and amongst supporters of different European clubs, mostly about which is the best team or which player is better than the other. Bets are very common and fan clubs very prevalent.

Tempers flare amongst supporters of a club when refereeing decisions aren't going in favour of their team, supporters are saddened by team defeats as they feel pierced by a sharp object and some are also passive as they seem unperturbed by wins or defeats because they're non-aligned and only enjoy the beauty of the game. Breathtaking moments have been produced in European football and to me, three UEFA Champions League matches come to mind. Interestingly, they are all grand finale matches.

UEFA CL Final 1999 between Manchester United and Bayern Munich saw the former putting up an impressive performance in the dying minutes of the match to win the trophy whilst a goal down; 2005 in Istanbul saw Liverpool recovering from a three-goal deficit to win the trophy whilst in Rome 2009, FC Barcelona put up a spectacular and remarkable performance to outlast Manchester United. These were really special moments in European Club football.

In Ghana, Chelsea arguably has the greatest support base, followed by Manchester United, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, etc. It is no doubt that the English Premier League (EPL) is most watched in Ghana as compared to other leagues in Europe. Club football in Europe has become the face of club football in the whole world. Popularity of the Ghanaian Premier League is fast diminishing and that of European club football thriving.

Anybody, given the chance to choose between spectacular football and not-so-spectacular one will definitely go for the former. This means efforts must be directed at making the domestic league better and interesting through better organisation and funding.

When watching European club football, many are thrilled by the exploits of current in-form players as Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Andres Iniesta, Radamel Falcao, Xavi Hernandez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luis Suarez, Andre Pirlo, Hulk, Robbie Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, etc as well as coaches such as Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola, Tito Vilanova, Carlo Ancelotti, etc. These guys and their colleagues make the sport loveable and interesting to watch and even spend money on.

Be it the individual leagues in Europe, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, the level of the game is at a level equaled by none on any other continent. To be honest, the craze for European Club football will stay with us for a long time to come. This however does not mean that nothing can be done to make the domestic Premier League more organized, interesting and loveable. All hands are needed on deck!

Paul Edem Kuenyefu is an Entrepreneur and Development Enthusiast

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