Where is the world of football headed? It's a new year and a new decade and I am fascinated to see what developments there will be in the game. What if.... The money pouring into the game through TV revenue and new club ownership continued to grow - not just in England - alongside the money pouring out of the game in player wages and agent fees and both became more and more erratic and unstable. Massive institutions like Manchester United are already in the process of relieving their huge borrowed debt by issuing bonds to achieve a lower interest rate - it is pretty scary stuff and the future of football could see some extreme results. Potentially we could get to a point where multiple clubs collapse mid-season - not just fall into administration, but totally collapse - be shut down and games and points earnt during the season become null and void. The domestic league becomes more and more of a reserve league to support the evolved FIFA Champions League (like the UEFA Champions League but a global version) and the World Cup would become a sideshow much as the Carling Cup is today. The best clubs in the world would evolve alongside the competition they play in. They would have massive squads and have a squad network spread out across the globe. There would be a Chelsea in Johannesburg and one in Shanghai and players would rotate between the regional squads of the super clubs - probably about 20 globally. The smaller clubs would be bought up and you would find Fulham, Brighton, Charlton, Crystal Palace and Gillingham acting as the reserve teams and youth teams of Chelsea - their sole purpose to maintain the squad of the new Chelsea with zero ambition or infrastructure to be anything more. With the lack of stability and massive amounts of money involved in the new global FIFA Champions League football players would become more like mercenaries or free-lancers who could change teams on a monthly or weekly basis just based on who would pay the most. Fans would no longer support clubs but follow these players and be more interested and excited by the individual performances and skills than the result of the game. The majority of fans would only watch highlight packages subscribed to and streamed on YouTube than tune in to the live games but when they do download or stream the 'live' game there are differences to how 90 minutes play out now. We could have multiple substitutions for specialised tactics. Players would be able to play till 50 as they could have one and only role in the team - the penalty taker, the long throw in, the corner taker etc. Each time he came on the pitch he would carry his own brand sponsorship and once his role was complete he would return back to the bench. Technology would ensure all aspects of the game are fair and tight. Digital replays and referees with A-class celebrity status would run proceedings. There will be commercial breaks built around the additional digital replays and substitutions. Players themselves will also evolve as the physical capacity of the football player is taken to the next level. The average height of a FIFA Champions League player would be 6ft9" and most could do 100m in under ten seconds. The game would be the pinnacle of physicality and young players will be genetically tested by the age of 6 to see if they have the physical potential to reach the top of the game. The other fascinating evolution will be the emergence of a number of Chinese superstars who dominate the game and the commercial success to a much higher level than David Beckham does today. Who knows what will happen, we might not see the end of football - but I certainly feel that there is an evolution on the way, we shall see if there will be a time when we have a global Chelsea FC - I hope not
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