Club Football may hurt National Team Performances
Club football has come of age. Previously, most of the squad members were employed from native countries, but now more and more international players are making their way into the European clubs, because they offer more money and publicity. Due to this, the players leave their home countries at an early age, to move to the more lucrative European league.
The English Premier League is the most famous tournament of football, but the English side has been struggling for a long time now.
Some people might think that these players would get more experience, ultimately helping their national sides. However, some critics, like Diego Maradona, think that the players leaving South America at an early age lose their South American style, as European football is quite different from the South American style of football. Also, some players, especially the big ones, also miss the opportunity of playing alongside their own players. Due to this, some of the superstars find it hard to settle into their national teams, as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both have failed in Argentinean and Portuguese national sides, respectively.
Also, there are certain clubs that do not play any native player, or the ratio between native players and foreign players is very low. Arsenal is an example, when most of the time no English player makes it on the team or even stays on the bench. Similarly, Internazionale hardly plays any Italian player in their squad, as most of their main men are from other countries. Due to this the clubs fail to produce any talent that can play for their National team. So, in a way clubs are hurting their National sides and are often criticised by football circles around the country, as Arsenal have been under such criticism for a very long time.
If we look at the last decade of football and see the honours won by the big players, we would notice an astonishing result. The only player who has won the FIFA World Player of the Year award, and played in his native league is Fabio Cannavaro. The Italian won this award after the World Cup 2006, while he was a part of Juventus. He also won the Ballon d’Or, or the European Footballer of the Year, award. Only one other player has won the Ballon d’Or, i.e. Michael Owen, who plays for the same country and in the same league competition. However, there are no other players who have won anything in their native leagues, as most of the time these two awards were won by foreign players. Therefore, the clubs have contributed nothing to the national sides, while the major responsibility lies on the shoulders of the big clubs, who always go for big players, as they have the resources to bring them in.
Barcelona, quite recently, is the club who has provided some strength to the Spanish National side. Previously, there was no rule, in Barcelona, about the signings of the players. So, as they followed the Dutch style of football, most of the Dutch players liked to play for Barcelona. Now, the new coach Pep Guardiola has adopted a principle of playing most of the players from their own youth club. Therefore, he is playing a lot of Spanish talent, and producing more and more each day. Apart from the senior players, there are quite a few youngsters who made it to the National side, including Pedro, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique. Hence, this policy has proven to be useful for the national side.
On the other hand, the English clubs and the Italians have failed to do so. Due to this reason, their teams have failed miserably in the World Cup, and it would take them a long time to come out of their misery.
The real problem is that the international football is played for a short period, while the club football goes on for almost nine months. So, the players who get more playing time at club level are always more prepared than the others. Maybe, the legislations, to stop the influx of foreign players, must be introduced by the local football federations. In this way the clubs would be forced to bring in their native players, which would also improve the standards of the national sides.
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