world politics and sports: With the arrival of Kaka, Ronaldo and new-look Madrid, La Liga seems

The departure of Ronaldinho, arguably the greatest football artist in the last five years, from Barcelona to AC Milan was the sign many football enthusiasts, particularly fans of the English Premier League(EPL), had been waiting for to proclaim that the Spanish La Liga was in decline, and that the Premiership was the best football league in the world. They did not point to the fact that rather than go to one of the several clubs in England that was eagerly looking forward to signing him, he chose to go to Italy, to a club with a rich European history. Fans of the EPL explained that move away, saying he was getting tired, adding weight, and therefore could not stand the sometimes cynical tackles and the huff and puff associated with the Premiership. They were right, so it seems.
Week in, week out, Nigerians are tuned to their television sets watching matches of the Premiership. The Nigerian attraction to the EPL was originally made possible by Multichoice’ strategic packaging of the product in such a way as to appeal to a cross-section of people – not only to a football enthusiast, but also people with a passing interest; sometimes the ones with hardly any interest in the game. Soon, most of Nigerians were hooked, and it was this that led to intense bids for the rights to beam matches of the EPL by new rival cab. Now, EPL is available even on local television stations. This attraction of the EPL had spin-offs.
Because of the huge attention the league commanded in Nigeria, it was the first league of choice for many Nigerian footballers and those aspiring to, one day, play professional football in Europe. The footballers knew they would be guaranteed a huge audience back home when they play in the Premiership, and being called into the national team would not be so difficult. That is why even players in the Championship, the lower tier of the Premiership, still manage to find their way into the national team, a taboo at some not too long era of Nigeria’s international game history.
Also, as a result of the strategic and consistent marketing given the EPL in Nigeria, the tournament has a huge fan base here while its top four clubs’ supportership level has now reached an almost unbelievable level, with hooliganism sometimes associated with match-day conduct. Twenty years ago, when English football matches were available on local television, it did not command this level of followership. But with Multichoice packaging the matches in such a way as to have mass appeal, it became one of the major attractions on television.
However, all this may be set for a change for two reasons. One is the movement, which is gathering momentum, of a major chunk of the world’s greatest players, to Spain. And even more importantly, the repackaging of the La Liga content, now exclusively owned by Multichoice. And with the benefit of hindsight, few Nigerians will underrate the power of the southern African company to repackage a tinsel product, at least so in Africa.
Barcelona’s triumph over Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in last season’s UEFA Champions League final is perhaps an indicator of how club footballing events of the nearest future could form shape.
In that match, with United looking so primed, and given Ferguson’s mind games, which very rarely fails to work magic in results for him, and throwing in Ronaldo, the reigning FIFA World Footballer of the Year into the equation to raise the ante, it was thought by most analysts that a tough and close encounter was at hand. But what an evenly matched fixture it turned out not to be. It was almost over before it got started.
One of the highpoints of the match was petite Messi leaping high up into the night sky to nod in the defence-splitting cross from Xavi. It was a devastating moment for the EPL and United’s fans. Alex Ferguson took it quite well, but moaned that Barcelona refused to release the ball, in reference to the inability of his players to retrieve the ball from the trio of Iniesta, Xavi and Messi.
For long spells in the match, United players, their coach and fans were reduced to spectators, watching Barca’s football artists conjuring passes upon passes, moves upon moves. Barcelona proved to the entire world that attacking football could be very effective and sweet to watch when it is hitting the right notes and getting the results.
Under the current reality, therefore, where all the first class of the world want to play for Barcelona – and if they cannot be signed by the club, then would prefer any other club in Spain – is set to become the factor that could demystify the Premiership. That is the weapon that Barca’s triumph has added to La Liga over the EPL.
In Nigeria, it is a no-brainer to predict that the popularity of La Liga is going to grow in leaps and bounds with this new reality thrown into the total ownership, by Multichoice, of the content. With its expertise in packaging entertainment programmes that has made it the dominant pay television operator in Africa in the last two decades, the screening of La Liga matches is expected to take a new, more robust dimension.
Supersport will devote as much time as it did on the Premiership in all the years it solely owned it – in in-depth analyses, focus on players, coaches and clubs, enhanced punditry and even superior match day commentaries – on La Liga. This is why it is safe and rational to surmise that the Premiership might be in for a rough ride in the country in the next few years.
The job of repackaging La Liga will even be made easier for this provider by a number of other factors such as the fact that some of Nigeria’s cult players like Ikechukwu brothers, Kalu and Uche, are already playing in it, more Nigerian players are finding their ways to it, and of course the array of talents that will be on display when the new season kicks off.
For instance, the league had in the past always boasted the presence of reigning FIFA World Player of the Year, with a few past owners of the crown. Last season, it had no single former champion in the system while the reigning ruler was living in the Premiership.
But in the new season, not only will it have the reigning kink in Ronaldo, it will have the immediate past ruler in Kaka; and what more, the ‘King to be’, Messi will also be on call. They will be backed by lots other world class players. So, it can only be natural if the attention of the world’s spectators begin to shift to it.
The two matches called ‘el Classico’ between Real Madrid and Barcelona next season will definitely live its name – The Classic – given the calibre of players that would be on parade in just one fixture, and the nations they will represent. Outside that, football followers would really be intrigued in how these two giants fare in all their matches against the rest. They will want to see whether the power of the purse in the transfer market, which Madrid had demonstrated, can translate to diadems. (It must be remembered that this same scenario also happened in England at the dawn of the Premiership becoming the league of choice of the world, after the combination of Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho met at the Chelsea Stamford Bridge junction.)
Given all this, it is easy to predict that this next season’s La Liga title would be going to one of the two giants of the system, but it may still defy this prediction given the known temperament of it in the past.
The likes of Deportivo La Coruna, Villarreal, and Valencia are capable of springing surprises.
With a new President at the helm of affairs at Madrid, the era of the galactico seems back. When Florentino Perez, the architect of the first galactico era was returned unopposed to the presidency of Real Madrid, the hearts of coaches of clubs with the best players in the world must have missed a few beats. Their worst fears would have been borne out by the past activities of the team in the transfer market. And now, after a few months in power, have not these fears been confirmed? They have broken the world transfer record twice in one month – a record that has been standing for nearly a decade, broken twice in one month!
After all this, all that is left is for fans to wait with bated breath for the season to begin