UEFA Champions League 2023/2024

[dax21]

I'll be the first to say how football got dull and soulless but this knockout stage of CL (and EL/CL) has so far been one of the more interesting ones in the last 5 years in terms of quality and amount of goals scored.

Less and less kids getting involved into the sport is a symptom, not the cause. There are less and less kids to begin with, more easily available entertainment is everywhere. I don't know if any of you are in any adult groups who do sports, I can tell you for a fact from multiple separate occasions that I've been in groups of 30-40 people and when it comes to the scheduled day more often than not we struggle to gather just 10 so that there are enough of us to play at all. If adult enthusiasts can't rationalize it over staying in and scrolling on their phones on the sofa, how do we expect children to do any better?

 

[Campione]

"Soul" has been sucked out of the football simply because it has become a huge business where huge amounts of money are being transferred from one club to another, not to mention the money from sponsors, advertising and etc. Also, players understand that they can gain a lot of millions for a relatively short period of time and are OK (at least most of them) to change clubs if they get better offer. Nothing surprising considering the consumer life that people around the globe are living these days.

 

[Materazzi_23]

It is indeed becoming a social problem. In any case, exercise and sports decrease every year. I used to have gym at school 2/3 a week and that was real exercise, so to speak. Nowadays a child should be happy if they have half an hour of gym a week and that they actually exercise. All playgrounds will be removed because this will only cause inconvenience to the people who live around them. There are even municipalities in the Netherlands that prune low branches from trees so that children cannot climb the tree because that is dangerous.

We are raising patronized generations addicted to a screen. I am a youth coach at a decent level, but even my boys only play football at the football club 2/3 times a week and in their free time they play games or watch stupid TikTok videos. Playing outside is no longer an option for most children with all the entertainment available to them. That is not necessarily the biggest problem of this generation whether football is becoming more fun or more boring, because this week there were great matches in the CL.

But of course it doesn't help with the commercial business that has gripped football. The disinterest of players in their own club and fans does not help either. 20 years ago there were many more players who were proud to play for their club and did not leave to earn 1 euro more at their competitor. Nowadays players no longer care where they play football as long as they earn a lot of money, it shows the mentality of today.

 

[dax21]

We are raising patronized generations addicted to a screen. I am a youth coach at a decent level, but even my boys only play football at the football club 2/3 times a week and in their free time they play games or watch stupid TikTok videos. Playing outside is no longer an option for most children with all the entertainment available to them. That is not necessarily the biggest problem of this generation whether football is becoming more fun or more boring, because this week there were great matches in the CL.

I don't think there is correlation between how visually entertaining football on tv is and how fun playing it is for children. When I look back at myself from age 7 to let's say 12, out of all the kids who played together every day there were maybe 2 or 3 who bothered to watch the games and even for them it was more of a father/son family activity. I know I personally collected cards (as many did) first because it was a fun social thing to do, only then did I start watching football after the fact. Cards/stickers and video games were what got you into kicking the ball with others, and you could consume those two things fully without ever needing to watch the actual games. I still remember kids who would replicate Roberto Carlos's insanely exaggerated run-up to a freekick due to silly animation on the PS1 Winning Eleven game and not because they watched the real Roberto Carlos on the tv.

20 years ago there were many more players who were proud to play for their club and did not leave to earn 1 euro more at their competitor. Nowadays players no longer care where they play football as long as they earn a lot of money, it shows the mentality of today.

You could also go the other way about it and say how 20 years ago clubs were proud to consider their icons truly unsellable and weren't eager to sell them to the first club that comes with a big offer. It's questionable if this modern football has any use for the club legends anyway.

 

[brehme1989]

It's questionable if this modern football has any use for the club legends anyway.

I'll leave this here, don't mind me

Continue please.

 

[Materazzi_23]

I don't think there is correlation between how visually entertaining football on tv is and how fun playing it is for children. When I look back at myself from age 7 to let's say 12, out of all the kids who played together every day there were maybe 2 or 3 who bothered to watch the games and even for them it was more of a father/son family activity. I know I personally collected cards (as many did) first because it was a fun social thing to do, only then did I start watching football after the fact. Cards/stickers and video games were what got you into kicking the ball with others, and you could consume those two things fully without ever needing to watch the actual games. I still remember kids who would replicate Roberto Carlos's insanely exaggerated run-up to a freekick due to silly animation on the PS1 Winning Eleven game and not because they watched the real Roberto Carlos on the tv.

Maybe not 1 on 1, but I have the feeling that because children no longer play outside and are so focused on their phone or iPad, interest in sports is decreasing. Or at least the mentality and interest has become completely different. When I was young I didn't have an Xbox or mobile phone, so you automatically went outside more often and for me that meant playing football, but perhaps for others it meant a different sport.

Now I don't want to sound like an old fart and say that everything was better in the past. (okay maybe a little).

But this TikTok generation has a attention span of a goldfish that makes watching 90 minute matches a waste of their time.

You could also go the other way about it and say how 20 years ago clubs were proud to consider their icons truly unsellable and weren't eager to sell them to the first club that comes with a big offer. It's questionable if this modern football has any use for the club legends anyway.

Good point and I think you're right about that too. The majority of clubs are no longer run by owners who are fans of a club, but by business people who just want to make money. This is reflected in the interaction with players, fans, trainers, etc. The majority are in football because money can now be made there. If there might be more money to be made in another sport tomorrow, they will invest their money there.

 

[dax21]

I'll leave this here, don't mind me

Continue please.

A romantic win for football for sure but ultimately anecdotal for the discussion at hand.

 

[Forzanerazzurri]

 

[Ethor]

Guess I'll watch the Barca vs P$G match today, while hoping Dortmund wins.

 

[Dave54]

Rooting for PSG and BVB.

 

[Linege]

i prefer barca/atlm win

will watch barca/psg with one eye since have to reassembly my beretta 92fs a1

 

[DiegoMilito22]

Barca 1-0

 

[bubba zanetti]

Imagine Jamal in Inter. He would probably never enter the pitch.

 

[Ethor]

Barca down to 10 men!

 

[Dave54]

PSG got a penalty and Barca player got red.

 

[DiegoMilito22]

That looked like a penalty at first glance.

 

[Dave54]

PSG got a penalty and Barca player got red.

my bad, free kick.

 

[DiegoMilito22]

Dortmund 1-0

 

[Dave54]

Dortmund scored.

 

[Dave54]

Dortmund 1-0

Good deal.