#Qatari Club
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whitehartlane · 1 year ago
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minjae to bayern, the fans don’t deserve him but take care of my jeonbuk boy 👍🏾
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imagineyneyjr · 2 years ago
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Not Busi😭😭😭😭
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uniteds · 1 year ago
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stuff that happened in the 2022/2023 football season that should send us into a coma but we’re too desensitized:
1. the whole ass world cup in the middle of the season. what was that
2. manchester united sacking ronaldo and announcing a sale of the club in the middle of the world cup
3. ronaldo getting dropped at the world cup and his replacement scoring a hattrick immediately after
4. keeping up with the belgians (world cup edition)
5. keeping up with the belgians (courtois saying he doesn’t respect kdb after stealing his missus)
6. ronaldo stans beefing with a little moroccan girl
7. the kingdom of saudi arabia buying newcastle united and then telling the premier league that they didn’t and the premier league going “oh okay if you say so”
8. megan thee stallion being romelu lukaku’s date to lautaro martinez’s wedding
9. pique cheating on shakira and then shakira releasing a diss track about it
10. shakira figuring out pique cheated on her because someone ate her strawberry jam and pique doesn’t eat strawberry jam
11. apparently the girl pique cheated on shakira with (clara) cheating on pique with pep
12. wagatha christie libel case
13. real madrid dropping a video accusing barcelona of fascism and the government of cataluyna getting involved
14. the pope coming out as a manchester united fan
15. the one napoli fan that basically made zielinski strip on the pitch
16. mount vesuvius park shutting down because napoli fans wanted to fake an eruption as a celebration
17. frank lampard taking everton into a relegation battle, getting sacked, and then taking chelsea into a relegation battle
18. on that note: chelsea were in a relegation scrap and finished 12th
19. mourinho lost his first ever european final to sevilla europa league black magic
20. whatever the fuck borussia dortmund did on the last day of the bundesliga season
21. anthony martial’s ex wife chasing his first wife down a french motorway with a baby in the passenger seat
22. psg suspending messi because he took an unsanctioned trip to saudi arabia and then unsuspending him two days later because they didn’t want people talking about geopolitics
23. the absolutely bizarre messi apology video released by psg
24. spurs refunding their fans’ tickets after being embarrassing
25. pep’s heartbreak over the fact julia roberts is a manchester united fan
26. chelsea scored one goal in the month of april
27. chelsea and spurs had six managers between them and won one match combined between march and april
28. mourinho fighting anthony taylor after the europa league final
29. milan derby in the ucl for the first time since 2005
30. luis enrique saying he’s cool with the spanish players having sex during the world cup as long as they’re not having orgies
31. luis enrique saying he doesn’t have sex anymore unless his wife wants to
32. man city charged with 115 counts of financial doping and trying to get the barrister in charge disqualified because he’s an arsenal fan
33. mourinho wire-taping himself to catch referees being corrupt
34. ryan reynolds and mac from it’s always sunny in philadelphia buying a football club and that football club getting promoted
35. pele died rip
36. women football awards sponsored by shein and klarna having a category for “male football ally of the year” and it’s just random men that went to one (1) women’s game
37. barcelona negreia case (how do you say calciopoli in catalan?)
38. infantino saying he feels gay, african, like a migrant worker, disabled, arab, and qatari
39. infantino saying he was oppressed as a child because he was ginger and italy is not safe for gingers
40. david alaba’s father in law getting arrested for being one the leaders of a far right group plotting to overthrow the german government
41. richarlison being tumblr’s it girl for a month and then not scoring a goal for the next four
42. juventus being in the middle of another corruption scandal and being docked points because of it
43. two teams getting investigated by the british government for playing football the weekend the queen died
44. gavi getting a yellow card in the first minute of a football match
45. pogba’s brother was arrested by french authorities for being part of a group-organized extortion attempt against pogba
46. richarlison getting a tattoo of neymar’s face and neymar paying him 30k to get it removed
47. iker casillas coming out, puyol implying they had a thing, and both of them retracting it in the most misha collins way possible.
48. sane and mane fight
49. zlatan retired from football
50. barca withholding about 50 million in wages from their players and somehow frenkie still didn’t want to join manchester united
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squiffy-fags · 6 months ago
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One of Sqiffy's favorite men is Marco Verratti, a professional footballer. Here he is at age 21, still so innocent, don't you think?
His passing ability, vision, control, and transition from middlefielder to defensive breaking up attacks gave him a record of nine Ligue 1 titles for Paris Saint-Germain.
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Now 34 more mature with tatoos, smoke and an impressive drunk driving arrest on the Paris Périphérique, is now with the Qatari sports club based in Doha.
Im told, sexual dreams are normal, so there, I'm too having them from time to time. Oh, Marco!!
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completeoveranalysis · 8 months ago
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EMOTIONALLY DEVASTATED IN THE CLUB TONIGHT
How are there still 22 chapters to go.
I am very glad there are still 22 chapters to go but how are there still so many chapters to go.
Time to spend every waking moment thinking about this until the next liveblog.
BUT SUFFERING ASIDE thank you so much for all your comments and replies! They were devastating and wonderful and I am having a wonderful terrible time.
And! Thank you to everyone who supports me over on Patreon! IT GETS ME THROUGH CLONE DEATH THAT'S FOR SURE:
First Tier of Patrons
Coconi
Rien [Ri]
Sapphireswimming
Luke Wilson
Stupid Kitsune
Jordan Fredriksz
Shynerdycactus
CloudMenaceBird
Corinne Burr
Qatari Pekarsky
Fer E
MokoCharm
limitless_paper
Higher Tier of Patrons:
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UNTIL NEXT TIME, TREASURE THE TIME YOU GET WITH YOUR CLONES.
YOU JUST NEVER KNOW WHEN THE METAPHORICAL LOOP WILL CLOSE AND HE WILL SHATTER IN YOUR ARMS.
;_;
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ultrajaphunter · 4 months ago
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Qatar seems like the model “modern Arab state” and a mediator. The Gulf Country has spent a Fortune buying Western Football Clubs, iconic Hotels and Real Estate. However, behind their carefully crafted PR, the Qataris are Hiding some disturbing things…
youtube
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tieflingkisser · 7 months ago
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Al Jazeera office raided as Israel takes channel off air
Israel's government has moved to shut down the operations of the Al Jazeera television network in the country, branding it a mouthpiece for Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the cabinet agreed to the closure while the war in Gaza is ongoing. Police raided the Qatari broadcaster's office at the Ambassador hotel in Jerusalem on Sunday. Al Jazeera called claims it was a threat to Israeli security a "dangerous and ridiculous lie". The channel said it reserved the right to "pursue every legal step". Israel's Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said equipment had been taken in the raid. A video posted by the minister on X shows police officers and inspectors from the ministry entering a hotel room. A BBC team visited the scene, but was prevented from filming or going into the hotel by police.
[...]
The shut down of Al Jazeera in Israel has been criticised by a number of human rights and press groups. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said they had filed a request to the country's Supreme Court to issue an interim order to overturn the ban. The group said that claims that the broadcaster was a propaganda tool for Hamas were "unfounded", and that Sunday's ban was less about security concerns and more to "serve a more politically motivated agenda, aimed at silencing critical voices and targeting Arab media". The Foreign Press Association (FPA) urged the Israeli government to reconsider its decision, saying the shut down of Al Jazeera in the country should be "a cause for concern for all supporters of a free press". The FPA said in a statement that Israel now joins "a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station", and warned that Mr Netanyahu has the authority to target other foreign outlets that he considers to be "acting against the state". The Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna echoed the same concerns, saying: "The Israeli cabinet must allow Al Jazeera and all international media outlets to operate freely in Israel, especially during wartime." The UN's Human Rights office also called the Israeli government to reverse the ban, posting on X: "A free & independent media is essential to ensuring transparency & accountability. Now, even more so given tight restrictions on reporting from Gaza." Foreign journalists are banned from entering Gaza, and Al Jazeera staff there have been some of the only reporters on the ground.
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At the very death, the sportwashing worked
"Messi’s cloak is called a Beshth. Arabian warriors wore it after a victory. It’s also worn by the royal family. The king of Qatar honoured Messi as a sign of respect."
The robe wasn't just cos of his performance in the final, it's cos he's been a key part of sportwashing the Qatar regime for the last 18 months when he signed for PSG (the club is owned by the Qatari state), taking a record breaking amount of dosh in the process.
The greatest ever player has been rewarded for his loyalty and the sportwashing job he has inadvertently done on behalf of the state
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coachtfd · 3 months ago
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Damn you have some nerve celebrating a win like this against a team that’s relegation fodder hahaha 😆 Yes you are very much obsessed with Ten Hag hence you are under the impression he will build a dynasty here. Like it or not he’s getting that boot 🥾 when the season is gone in October or so.
I didn’t say he’s going to build a dynasty here, I said United has a dynasty to rebuild; he’s a part of that process. He might build a dynasty here, the conditions to do so are starting to come together. But he might just be another stepping stone, and that’s fine. I’m focused on the process, the building. If we could’ve done it under Ole, I would’ve been fine with it. I backed him until I felt it was time to change direction because he was impeding the process. I’m a big fan of Ten Hag because he’s doing what Ole couldn’t and wouldn’t: he’s moving the process along. INEOS never would’ve come if Ole was still here, the Qataris wouldn’t have bid for the club either, and they didn’t.
Hell yeah I celebrated this win, that’s what real supporters do. 🙌🏾 You think we won all of our titles by only beating Liverpool or Arsenal? When my team wins, I celebrate it. If you’re a United fan, if anyone’s obsessed it’s you. You can’t even be happy when your team wins, that’s a really sad place to be in. If you’re not a fan, you’re just a troll who thinks he’s going to rattle me; clearly, you don’t know me. I eat trolls for breakfast. I think I’ll put a little salt on you when October’s gone and he’s still here. 😂
🧌🍽️
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the-garbanzo-annex-jr · 1 year ago
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by Benjamin Weinthal,
Qatar's support for Hamas likely played a role in the collapse of the $6.31 billion deal which would have transferred ownership of English Premier League powerhouse Manchester United Football Club from the American Glazer family to Qatar's Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad al Thani, the son of Hamad bin Jassim (HBJ) the former prime minister of Qatar. Sheikh Jassim withdrew his bid just days after the massacre, which resulted in the deaths of 14 British nationals.
The Manchester Evening News reported October 16 on this author's article on about the role of HBJ in stoking antisemitism. FWI highlighted Jassim's antisemitism in a September 29 article that cited a translation by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). HBJ told Kuwaiti media outlet Al Qabas that if oil was sold by Jews, "It would be the most expensive thing in the world." HBJ worked with his son to raise funds for their now-defunct bid to buy Manchester United.
In its coverage, the Manchester Evening News noted "It would be remiss to overlook the fact the Glazers are Jewish" in light of HBJ's antisemitic statements and the implosion of the deal.
Marc Eichinger, a former French intelligence agent, told FWI that "It was important that they did not buy Manchester United because it is a tool of influence" for Doha. He said Qatar has no genuine interest in football as a sport and that the country's ownership of the Paris Saint-Germain Football Club "is used to corrupt and attract people" that can prove useful to the regime.
"An example is journalists who are invited to the VIP room at Paris Saint-Germain Football Club and have contact with people of notoriety—politicians. This has value and they reward Qatar with positive exposure," Eichinger told FWI.
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armchairfootballer · 5 months ago
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It’s been a rollercoaster 10 years since James Rodríguez wowed the world
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It's been 10 years since James Rodríguez scored *that* goal. Yes, that one. You remember it well, surely.
The setting: Brazil's historic Maracanã stadium. In the 28th minute of their Round of 16 contest against Uruguay, Colombia's Abel Aguilar lobbed a header to James, who played it off his chest and volley-kicked it into the top of his opponents' net, near the corner, well beyond a diving Fernando Muslera. In a post-match summary of the goal, the poetic British commentator Peter Drury declared, "First touch, sumptuous. Second touch, magical. That's not a left foot. That is a wand." Uruguayan defender José María Giménez could do nothing more than stand with his hands on his hips, staring at the net in disbelief.
"My word, this boy's a star!" Drury proclaimed in the moment. James did not disappoint. He added another goal that game, taking his tally to five in the tournament after just four games. He'd add another in a quarterfinal loss to Brazil. Though Colombia would bow out at that point, James would go on to win the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer and, later, the Puskas Award for the year's most beautiful goal.
But it hasn't been a bed of roses for James in the ten years since Rio. Today, on his 33rd birthday, we take a look at the rise, fall, and revival of the Colombian midfielder.
The rising star
James had been building a strong career for himself in advance of the 2014 World Cup with productive seasons at Porto (32 goals in 107 appearances; 6 trophies) followed by a high-profile move to Monaco — a 5-year contract with a €45 million transfer fee. But in a post-World Cup interview, James said the magic words: that it would be his "life's dream" to play for Real Madrid. Ten days later, and with 4 years still left on his contract, James had signed with Carlo Ancelotti's band of superstars, a roster that included the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni Kroos, Kareem Benzema, and Sergio Ramos to name just a few. (Casillas, Pepe, Bale, Marcelo, Navas to name just a few more.)
Things started well at Madrid. Even amidst a team rich in talent, and despite being out for two months with injury, James contributed 17 goals in his first season. But later injuries and diminishing returns in successive seasons meant that James could no longer keep a regular place on the squad. New Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane also didn't seem to favor James' playing style, leading the Colombian to request a loan to Bayern Munich, where we would be reunited with Ancelotti.
Internationally, James was still making waves. At 25, he was named Colombia team captain for the 2016 Copa América, leading them to third place, losing only to eventual winners, Chile.
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Fading away
Injuries plagued James for quite some time, keeping him from action for both club and country. After such a dazzling display in 2014, James sat on the bench at the 2018 World Cup and watched as his team went out to England in penalties in the Round of 16.
Despite scoring some key goals to help Bayern Munich win two league titles and a Pokal, James had netted only 15 goals in his 67 appearances with the club, and the owners opted not to pick up the option to purchase him. With no home in Munich or Madrid, he moved to Merseyside for a short stint with Everton (again, reuniting him with Ancelotti).
But failing to impress in England, and with no other clubs willing to take him on, James found himself playing for Qatar's Al Rayyan and didn't contribute much to their mediocre season. The Qatari team let him go just one game into his second season. He moved to Greece where he again lasted only one season after poor results with Olympiacos.
And James wouldn't get to return to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup as Colombia failed to qualify, finishing three points behind Ecuador for the last guaranteed spot. How did the World Cup star fade so fast for James?
Fast forward to summer 2023: James once again finds himself in South America. He now plays for São Paolo in Brazil, 13 years after he had left Argentina's Banfield, where he began built the reputation that catapulted him to European football. A name that had once dominated discussions among pundits — that had been proclaimed as "the next great thing" — had now faded into near oblivion. People weren't talking about James Rodríguez anymore.
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Renaissance
After their failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, James expressed uncertainty as to whether he would ever again play for his country. That may have lit a fire under the team and perhaps even under him. Something started to happen...
Colombia started to pile up the wins, or at least had avoided losing. They had racked up victories against Mexico, Germany, and Brazil, among other countries. And before you knew it, they entered Copa América 2024 on a 23-game unbeaten run.
Enter James.
The attacking midfield has been a stalwart for Colombia all tournament and has been one of the keys to their success. In Colombia's five games so far, he has netted one goal and contributed six assists, surpassing Messi's tournament assist record. He's been man of the match for four of Colombia's five games of the tournament so far.
And when Colombia face off against Messi's Argentina in Sunday's final, James will need to play a pivotal role. Will his remarkable revival culminate in extending Colombia's historic unbeaten run and winning their first Copa América since 2001?
In addition to reinvigorating this Colombia team and resurrecting his career, James may also be accomplishing something even more outlandish — he may have some neutrals paying closer attention to him and Colombia than to Messi and Argentina. Colombia has arguably been the Copa's best team. Argentina has yet to come up against substantial competition and have had two victories over Canada.
Meanwhile, Colombia have had already had to battle both Brazil and Uruguay, defeating the latter while down a player for an entire half. The talented superstars of La Albiceleste, the world's #1 ranked team for the last 18 months now, can always dazzle and can outplay any team on their best day. But we've yet to see their best at this tournament, and it's feasible Colombia's passionate, fiery play could be a game-changer.
The bookies may have already made their prediction, but Sunday's eventual outcome is anything but clear. What is clear is that James Rodríguez will have a key role to play in whatever the result.
He's hoping it's a role for the better.
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realmadridnews · 5 months ago
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Official announcement
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Real Madrid used the clause in Joselu's loan deal and signed the player for 1,5 million €.
In 2009, he joined Real Madrid Castilla from Celta Vigo and spent the next two seasons on loan at his former club. During the 2011/2012 season, he played a crucial role in Castilla's promotion to the Segunda División. Joselu made his first-team debut for Real Madrid in 2011, scoring the final goal in an 8:1 victory against UD Almería. For the 2012/2013 season, he was loaned to German club TSG Hoffenheim, and a year later, he was sold to Hannover 96 for €5 million. In the following years, he played for Stoke City, Deportivo La Coruna, Newcastle United, Deportivo Alaves, and RCD Espanyol, all while dreaming of returning to Real Madrid.
On July 1, 2023, Joselu's dream came true. With Benzema's departure, Real Madrid needed a striker and decided to loan Joselu from RCD Espanyol. Though he was not a regular starter, he made a significant impact. He played 49 matches, scored 17 goals—including a crucial brace against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinals—and provided three assists. His efforts helped Real Madrid secure their 15th Champions League title, along with the La Liga title and the Supercopa de Espana.
According to media reports, this move is intended to facilitate Joselu's transfer to the Qatari club Al-Gharafa SC. Real Madrid is expected to sell the striker to Al-Gharafa SC for €1.5 million without profiting from the transaction. This arrangement is designed to ensure Joselu's smooth transfer to Qatar and likely secure him better earnings due to the low transfer fee, which would have been higher if negotiated by RCD Espanyol.
Previous team: RCD Espanyol (loaned to Real Madrid)
Age: 34
Position: Forward
Height: 1,92 m
Matches played last season: 49
Goals scored last season: 17
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keenenthusiastinfluencer · 1 year ago
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Surely it is truer to the themes of Les Misérables to support the civil resistance group trying to defend the planet from oil barons?
I just think there were better targets then les mis tbh. Like the Tory conference has been going on take it directly to power. Last night they could have disrupted a football match between Newcastle united and Paris saint germain two clubs owned by the Saudi and Qatari states. Two oil producing nations. Millions of people around the world where watching that match. I just think that was a bigger platform to spread your message than a random Wednesday at les mis is all.
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blackswaneuroparedux · 2 years ago
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Anonymous asked: What do you think of David Beckham?
As a footballer or as a brand? I find David Beckham more interesting to observe as a brand than as a footballer simply because he paved the way as a modern pioneer of inventing one’s own personal brand. And in turn he influenced how we all, in varying degrees, curate our social media identities as a part of developing our own brand (whether we do so consciously or not, it’s the lens the world sees us through).
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I thought your question worth answering as a result of having a fascinating series of conversations with an old school friend over drinks and dinners who works as a luxury branding whizz here in Dubai. She’s followed the Beckham brand ever since she did her MBA and specialised in marketing luxury brands - she also happens to be a mad Manchester United fan (and even consulted for the club on commercialising their global brand outside of Europe). She was giving me a master class in branding the wine my cousins and I have been producing on our old creaky vineyard back in France. I don’t always buy her arguments but I do listen to her as she’s incredibly smart and brilliant in her job - no wonder she is sought out by many luxury brands to help them capitalise on their marketing and image.
As a huge sports fan I do admire David Beckham’s sporting achievements and I have always thought he was was underrated as a football player. I’m saying this not as a Manchester United fan but as a footballing fan. The only team I religiously follow is a local team many, many divisions down, and well away from the big leagues and play on a boggy pitch and the spectator stands leak from the roof down when it rains. So I’m not being partisan, as I know how deeply tribal football fans can be, which is part of the beauty of the beautiful game. I only knew of David Beckham as a little girl watching others watch him and the famed Manchester United football team play on satellite television when I was living overseas across South Asia and the Far East.
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People even to this day in the West don’t fully understand how popular not only football is but also how well supported Manchester United football club as a brand really is in those parts of the world, including Africa too. It’s a cliché to say talking about football is an ideal ice breaker between cultures and day to day interactions on the streets and markets. It’s hard for Americans to understand especially how football - the real football that we Brits invented - is the international lingua franca of cultures.
Even here in Dubai where I am enjoying going to the World Cup matches in nearby Qatar. The ‘water cooler’ talk around the office and out in the hotel bars and cafés has been about football, and nothing else. Because I work in the corporate world I’ve gone to my share of many World Cup champagne events and receptions sponsored by corporates and FIFA. Amidst the glitz and glamour, you realise football is seriously big business on a global scale.
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Sorry, I digress. But I guess it’s related as Beckham has come under harsh criticism for his ongoing role as an ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar. Beckham has been one of the most high-profile stars to support the tournament, appearing in several promotional videos, and has received a hefty sum of money for his work. It was reported in 2021 that former England legend Beckham signed a deal worth £15m-a-year for a 10 year deal, therefore making a £150 million in total. Beckham - as part of his brand - has long been considered an icon in the gay community. So his involvement in the tournament as the Qatari face of the World Cup has been met with upset and dismay by many in that community, which is their right of course.
As my luxury branding whizz friend put it, it’s hard to separate Beckham the footballer and Beckham the brand simply because from almost the beginning the two were entwined as Beckham’s football star shone.
It’s worth recapping that Beckham's distinguished playing career has been spent mainly with two of the most recognisable professional football teams in the world, Manchester United (his boyhood club) and later, Real Madrid. He built his reputation playing for Manchester United in the English Premier League when the English game, drunk on sponsorship money, began to grip the attention of the entire world. During his 10 years at the club, Manchester United dominated the English Premier League, which both then and now is widely recognised as one of the best and most competitive soccer leagues in the world - and of course the most watched.
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During his tenure with Manchester United, Beckham won six English Premiership titles, and was a pivotal member of the Manchester United team that won a unique football treble in 1999, garnering the Premiership, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions league in the same season. Though a midfielder, Beckham scored 86 goals for Manchester United. Beckham's fame, though, was less from his goal-scoring prowess than his ability to deliver pinpoint crosses, strike 40-yard penetrating through balls with unerring accuracy, and bend his signature free kicks around and over defensive walls. ‘Bend it like Beckham’ became a catchphrase made famous of a cute romcom movie of the same name.
Beckham's international career has been luminous. In March 2008, Beckham represented the England national team for the 100th time, making him a member of a very exclusive club. Only four other Englishmen, Peter Shilton (125), Bobby Moore (108), Bobby Charlton (106), and Billy Wright (105) had reached this milestone before Beckham. Beckham's stellar international career has included representing England in the 1998, 2002, and 2006 World Cup final tournaments, and he holds the distinction of being the first-ever English player to score in three successive World Cups. He served his country as its talismanic captain from 2000 through the 2006 World Cups. As captain, Beckham led his England team through example, including some at-times virtuoso performances such as his last-minute bending free kick goal against Greece that secured the England national team's qualification for the 2002 World Cup Finals.
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Such performances for the national team endeared him to the English public and Beckham's right foot was even referred to as one of Britain's "national treasures" by Hugh Grant's character, in the 2003 film Love Actually. This and other game-changing performances propelled Beckham mania to unprecedented levels, even prompting The Sun tabloid newspaper to call for Beckham to be knighted. Popular support was there, and in 2003, Beckham was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's birthday honours list for services to football.
His importance to the national team was highlighted when a broken metatarsal bone in his foot, two months before the 2002 World Cup, bumped the death of the Queen Mother from the front pages of several popular newspapers. Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly implored the nation to be optimistic and the press, both English and foreign, urged their readers to pray for his swift recovery so that he could play for England in the tournament. Beckham recovered in time to be featured in the 2002 World Cup Finals, and scored the winning goal against England's arch-rival, Argentina, before the team was eliminated by Brazil in the quarterfinals. In the same year Beckham was selected as the 33rd greatest Briton of all time by the BBC, the highest position attained by any sports figure.
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Although Beckham is perhaps the epitome of the successful postmodern global sport celebrity, his soccer career has had its downtimes, during which he has endured much hostility from England's football fans and severe criticism in the press. Such occurred in the 1998 World Cup finals, when, against arch-nemesis Argentina, with the game delicately poised, Beckham was given a red card and sent off from the field of play for retaliating against an Argentine player. This meant that England was reduced to playing with 10 men, and although the team held the 11 players representing Argentina to a draw by the end of the game, but they were eliminated by a penalty shoot-out.
This lapse of judgement did not go unpunished. England's national pride had been damaged and Beckham was widely vilified in the media for England's premature elimination from the 1998 Cup. Typifying the negative newspaper accounts of Beckham's sending-off, The Mirror's headline tabloid headline read "ten heroic lions, one stupid boy".
After enduring a season of terrace taunts from opposing team fans, Beckham gradually rebuilt his football reputation and popular appeal. Indeed the season after, he played a pivotal role in winning three trophies, the Premier League, the F.A. Cup, and the European Champions League, aptly dubbed the treble, with Manchester United in 1999 in Barcelona.
As his field performances improved, so his image reached iconic status. It peaked in April 1999 when Time Out magazine went as far as to portray Beckham as a pseudo-Christ-like figure and featured him on the front cover in white trousers and see-through shirt in a pose evocative of Christ and the crucifixion. The caption read: "Easter Exclusive: The Resurrection of David Beckham".
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In 2003, Beckham left Manchester United for Real Madrid. They paid $41 million for his services as their president, Florentino Perez, sought to build a club of global football superstars known as ‘the Galacticos’ era. Beckham joined a team that included the best-known names in the sport, including Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, Spain's Luis Figo, and Brazil's Ronaldo. This turned out to be an ill-fated strategy as despite their galaxy of football super-heroes, Real Madrid only won one trophy, Spain's La Liga title, during Beckham's time at the club.
Commentators at the time, though, noted the club's upturn in commercial appeal and speculated that the true impetus for the transfer was more Beckham's global celebrity and iconic appeal rather than his playing ability. There is some truth in this. Some commercial synergies were evident with both Beckham and Real Madrid having sponsorship deals with Adidas and Pepsi. Both gained from Beckham's Spanish presence. Real Madrid's commercial revenue from club merchandise sales, such as replica shirts, increased 67% in Beckham's first season alone.
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The acquisition of Beckham also helped open up new markets in Asia and the United States with exhibition matches and tours. Such was his impact that it was claimed that the "Beckonomics" of the transfer helped to propel Real Madrid past Beckham's former club Manchester United as the world's richest club in 2006 (according to Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance, 2006 - the bible of football economics).
Beckham has always had his critics, many of whom note that his off-the-field persona masks deficiencies in his on-field performances. Such critics cite that Beckham is "less than the complete" football player, while claiming that he is too one-dimensional in his abilities to deliver the telling through ball, the in-swinging corner, or the pinpoint crosses and free kicks. They point to his lack of genuine pace, his underdeveloped left-footed play, his poor heading, and his dearth of one-on-one dribbling skills. These deficiencies, they note, despite his stellar offensive set-piece play, limit his overall team contribution at the highest levels of the game.
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The career of David Beckham, celebrity soccer player, has had its highs and lows. But through it all, one thing has remained constant, David Beckham has rarely ventured out of the media or the public eye. For a decade, from his 1995 debut for Manchester United, his career went from strength to strength, his on-field brilliance matched only by his soaring marketing appeal in a sport that massively commercialised in the 1990s.
But as he hit his thirties, the Beckham star began to fade, and from 2006, his career has experienced turbulence. After resigning the England captaincy in the aftermath of England's disappointing exit at the quarterfinal stage of the 2006 World Cup, Beckham was subsequently dropped from the England national team squad in August 2006. In 2003 he moved from Manchester United to join famed Spanish soccer club, Real Madrid. By the end of 2006, he could not hold on to his first team place and it seemed that Beckham's fabled soccer career was declining. As he fell from footballing grace, Beckham's commercial celebrity appeal also eroded as he lost several lucrative endorsement contracts, most notably as the face man for Police sunglasses and the brand ambassador for Gillette.
However, just as everyone was writing him off, Beckham, not for the first time in his fabled career, reinvented himself. The football and entertainment world was stunned in January 2007, when he signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States, and the next phase of Brand Beckham was re-invented. It began in sensational style. In a sports world unfazed by gargantuan sports contracts, Beckham signed a contract that amazed even the most hardened of sports commentators. Worth an estimated $250 million over five years, Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy contract was signed only after the passing of a new MLS rule, the "designated player rule" (subsequently dubbed the ‘Beckham rule’), which permitted MLS teams to pay above the salary cap for two players.
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The contract was stunning, but fully reflected Beckham's global football notoriety and his Hollywood good looks. Carefully crafted by Simon Fuller, the architect of American Idol and former manager of the Spice Girls, Beckham's MLS deal dwarfed that of marquee athletes in the traditionally mainstream American sports of American football, baseball, and basketball. Beckham's contract was thought to be justified by his popular and global appeal. It enabled him to benefit financially from all his image rights, related sponsorships and endorsements, as well as sharing in team replica shirt and club ticket sales. In effect Beckham's contract made him a partner with the Los Angeles Galaxy's owners, the Anschultz Entertainment group.
The Beckham signing was deemed a watershed moment for U.S. soccer but also for Brand Beckham. It opened doors in Hollywood for Beckham and his wife, Victoria. The combination of Beckham's persona, English, tall, lean, good looking, with glittering athletic skills, and a celebrity wife, Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham, was tailor-made for Hollywood, Los Angeles, and the MLS. It provided Beckham with new opportunities to generate excitement in U.S. soccer, reignite his soccer career and also to ply his looks and commercial skills in the world's most lucrative marketplace - Hollywood.
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There is no question that it has been Victoria Beckham who has been the power behind the Beckham throne. Victoria Beckham never claimed to be the best singer in the Spice Girls, or the best dancer either. Nor was David Beckham necessarily the greatest footballer ever to wear a Manchester United shirt. The team’s former manager Alex Ferguson once said he had only ever worked with four world-class players, and didn’t include Beckham on his list. Yet, by dint of hard work, strategic decision-making and a remarkable ability to stay likeable even while becoming preposterously rich, the Beckhams have achieved the goal Victoria identified back in 2001, when she wrote of wanting to be “as famous as Persil Automatic”.
They have evolved beyond mere celebrities into a fully fledged brand, a household name as familiar and comforting as your daily breakfast cereal or family car. What they seem to have understood is that fame comes and goes, but brands have the power to get inside your head.
They had met in 1997 at a charity football match, although each already had their eye on the other. (As David Beckham noted in his autobiography: “My wife picked me out of a soccer sticker book. And I chose her off the telly.”) Within two years they had got engaged, had their first son, Brooklyn, and married; it was shortly after the wedding that the red tops coined the phrase “Brand Beckham”, describing the way each boosted the other’s already significant pulling power.
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When he and Victoria first got together, they were the first celebrity couple you could have on both back page and front page. There wasn’t a part of the paper they couldn’t feature in, a conversation that you couldn’t find a way of fitting them into. The timing was perfect - just as football was evolving from a sport into a 24/7 entertainment business. From the start, both partners embodied not just glamour but the highly appealing values of groundedness and hard graft. He was the son of a gas fitter, who worked his way up in football through the academy programme; she turned out to be just as driven, doggedly establishing an unexpectedly credible new career in fashion when the Spice Girls folded rather than remain a football ‘Wag’ (Wives and Girlfriend of a celebrity sportsman).
Victoria Beckham has been the queen of reinvention. She’s constantly doing new things: establishing herself as a designer, bringing out a children’s wear collection, adopting new tech.
But it’s the licensing and sponsorship deals using David’s name and image that have quietly proved the money spinner. In the last decade, the Beckhams officially became dollar billionaires, thanks in part to the lucrative corporate tie-ins covering everything from watches and whisky to pants and skincare that David has amassed since retiring from football in 2013. (Her fashion label, Victoria Beckham Ltd, launched in 2008 and has yet to turn a profit, although that’s not unusual in fashion.) They may not be in the Kardashians’ financial league, but the Beckhams are a really good, British branded business whose core value is intellectual property.
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The approach the Beckhams took to brand building was uncommon for celebrities in that it was strategic, well-advised and purposefully planned. The alignment of their personal interests and passions with business and philanthropic pursuits, enabled the brand to be sustained over time. They’re not ‘going through the motions’. For example, Beckham’s role in football may have evolved from player to owner of Inter Miami football franchise, but it’s still sustained by his passion for football. The Beckhams were extremely forward thinking with their approach to building a ‘brand’ all those years ago.
Before the Kardashians came traipsing through the showbiz world, the Beckhams lead supreme. They worked hard, always had good people around them and their main objective was to protect the brand at all costs. It’s no surprise Brand Beckham is where it is right now as a global entity that shows no sign of slowing down.
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Through his world-class soccer exploits and his multiple off-field personas, Beckham has not just become a brand, but a portfolio of brands. A brand is an intangible "mental box" or a creation or an association that exists in the mind of the consumer that adds value to products and services. In Beckham's case his global popularity and iconic image has resulted in him adding significant brand value and goodwill to the various companies he is a spokesman for and the multitude of different products and services that he endorses. Together with his wife, Victoria, they actually have their own dVb (David and Victoria Beckham), brand label.
He is, in effect, not one brand, but an entire portfolio of brands, each representing a part of the chameleon-brand that is David Beckham. His marketing image broadens to embrace other brand identities and personalities. He appeals to aspiring youth as a ‘working-class-boy-made-good.’ To families he is portrayed as a loving father and adoring husband. To popular music fans he is the proud husband of Posh Spice. Behaviourally, his non-conformist tendencies appeal to youth's individualism. In the world of high fashion, his clothes, and metro-sexual appeal attract the attention of "fashionistas" worldwide. Celebrity Beckham's appeal is in the eye of the beholder - a commercial chameleon or floating signifier, whose appeal depends on the role and audience he seeks to address.
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Beckham's potent image as a wholesome, clean-living, devoted family man juxtaposed with his penchant for bending conventional rules maximises his appeal to multiple demographic segments. His masculine identity is firmly rooted in his athleticism. But a large part of Beckham's appeal can be traced to his non-conformity and contradictions or his androgynous blends of opposites.
Beckham's fashion sense resulted in extraordinary appeal among the Black community. He sported chunky jewellery. He used fashion to exude confidence and sex appeal. His hairstyles, clothes, and body ornamentation developed into an important part of the Brand Beckham iconic image.
Unlike most men, he changed hairstyles, and when he did it made news. When he met Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first Black president, he wore Caribbean braids. During the 2002 World Cup, he had a Mohican cut. His body is adorned with tattoos including a winged crossed tattoo on the back of his neck. Under normal (i.e., non-Beckham) circumstances, such adornments would contradict his working class roots, soccer prowess, and strong family image. But in the media he is anchored with a strong hetero-masculine image. This occurs in spite of his constant infringements of traditional working class football (soccer) culture that emphasises the strong masculine image and which normally vilifies any hint of effeminacy.
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Such characteristics unveil Beckham as being the style icon, who embraces the values of metro-sexual man. This image presents Beckham as well groomed and manicured, someone who moisturises regularly, and who with his wife endorses a line of fragrance brands. The Beckham body, hard and toned, is aligned with his metro-sexual tendencies and that also makes him a popular figure in the gay community. Far from discouraging this androgynous image, Beckham chooses to reinforce this "bi-sexual persona" through his choice of fashions as well as appearances in gay magazines.
Beckham's family-man image is similarly so robust that not only did his reported affair in 2004, with personal assistant Rebecca Loos, fail to substantially undermine his wholesome family image; his commercial appeal not only did not falter, it was actually enhanced in some regards. It transpired that his alleged affair seemed to reinforce his heterosexual credibility and his appeal as the working class hegemonic man. It also provided a counter-narrative to the notion that Beckham represented a kind of new age man emasculated by his allegedly dominant ex-Spice Girl (‘girl-powered’) wife who reportedly chooses his clothes and fashion accessories.
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Before the Kardashians came along and branded themselves in a very Americanised in your face kind of branding generated out of a sex tape and Hollywood notoriety, it was arguably the Beckhams’ who really updated and modernised the idea that a person could be a brand on the global stage. That idea has filtered down into mainstream culture and spread like a virus through social media. Instagram has turned millennials and Generation Zs into curators of their lives for public consumption, anxiously presenting an idealised version of themselves at all times, while professional ‘influencers’ now hire brand managers to protect the image on which their whole commercial edifice rests. At work, Generation Z are told to define their ‘personal brand’ if they want to get hired, promoted or simply noticed in a precarious and crowded freelance world.
For a human, famous or otherwise, to become a brand is more logical than it sounds. After all, the brand is just the part of a business that is associated with human qualities that trigger an emotional response in customers. Think of Marks & Spencer, and you probably think about reliability. Chanel means chic, Coke says feel good, Volvo spells sensible. As the explosion of choice on the high street has made customers more brand-aware, manufacturers have worked ever harder at imbuing brands with likeable characteristics to make them stand out. So it is a relatively short step from thinking that brands should have personalities to thinking that personalities could have brands, or a defined set of values to which employers and consumers will respond emotionally.
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As my friend working as a senior corporate branding consultant in the luxury market put it to me over drinks: “People buy people. No matter how good you are at your job, if I haven’t bought into you as a person - if I don’t like you and trust you - it isn’t going to work.”
Yet even this level of self-promotion makes some people balk, just as some balk at paying over the odds for something just because it has a celebrity’s face on the packaging. For while many believed that the point of branding is to act as a guarantee of quality, something shoppers can trust, increasingly consumers are starting to question what they are getting in return for an expensive logo. Today it’s not uncommon to see in parts of social media, the phrase ‘personal brand’ become a kind of ironic millennial in-joke, a byword for pretentiousness.
But both millennials and increasingly Generation Z have a complex relationships with their curated lives. A lot about the way we now conduct ourselves, professionally and personally, would be considered achingly naff a decade ago; that everything is now ‘content’; or that you can choose ‘public figure’ as a title on Instagram. But, my savvy friend working in luxury branding would argue that branding does help make sense of the kind of portfolio careers pieced together from different gigs and side hustles. She would go on to argue that we are in a sense all freelancers and that we’re multi-hyphenates. That doesn’t mean dilly-dallying in lots of different pies for the sake of it. It means combining several different jobs to guarantee a fulfilled and financially successful working life.
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There is an obvious downside to all this not withstanding that it has its practical uses as an umbrella for sheltering different work projects. To put it simply, branding can leave a person vulnerable. When the product is yourself, or an idealised version of it, it is very hard not to take criticism of that product personally. If you turn yourself into a brand then if you suffer, your brand does too - and vice versa. The expression ‘fake it until you make it’ comes to mind such is the pressure to keeping up appearances. The tendency of online social media when sniffing out inauthenticity is brutal and dehumanising. It’s definitely difficult to watch a character assassination of yourself take place online, by strangers who do not know you and take special glee in your humiliation.
And that is one downside of turning humans into products. We see ourselves as consumers first and it’s no wonder we just see others as products, disposable or impervious to hurt. When rumours swept the internet that the Beckhams were about to divorce, speculation immediately centred on what it meant not for them or their four children but for the brand, given that David’s marketability still rests on being seen as a devoted husband, father and general nice guy. Since the rumours turned out to be false, we will never know. Yet it was a timely reminder that, unlike Persil Automatic, people have feelings. Their lives can take unexpected turns, which most definitely aren’t on brand; they may get burnt out, or simply stop wanting to live in a goldfish bowl round the clock.
But the Beckhams show no sign of wanting to get out of the goldfish bowl glare. Indeed their own children have their own distinct brand within the Beckham brand. It’s an open question if the Beckham brand will run out of steam as the parents take a back seat and their children carry on the mantle as none of their children is terribly good or known for any one thing. In other words, famous for being famous. But as they have shown, that is not a handicap in these narcissistic days.
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Much has been made of the fact that Beckham has damaged his brand by taking £150 million to be the face of the football World Cup in Qatar in the face of criticism of the lack of LGBT rights in that Muslim sovereign state. He’s faced online and public backlash amongst the Western LGTB community and it seems his days as a gay icon are over. But critics have missed the point.
Beckham the brand is bigger than his gay icon status. Beckham is already a dollar billionaire and so £150 million is (relatively) not a lot in the long scheme of things. Beckham’s branding team know the future of the brand lies in the East. Indeed unless you travel or lived in parts of the world other than a Europe in decline and an America at war with itself, you cannot fathom how big Beckham’s brand is. The ‘gay style’ brand is a smaller piece of the Beckham brand pie.
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Beckham's global appeal is evidenced by the high percentage of people in Asia who recognise him. For many years, he appeared in 150 countries in Gillette shaver advertisements. The Japanese Meiji Seika chocolate and confectionary company made a three-meter high chocolate statue figure of Beckham as part of his endorsement of their confectionary before the 2002 World Cup finals. Beyond that, Monks at a Buddhist shrine in Thailand even moulded a gold-plated Beckham that people can worship.
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Beckham is not an ordinary brand. Beckham is a moving advertisement. What is evident is that Brand Beckham has undergone a metamorphosis from the early days when his appeal was predicated on his football playing ability to a more complex multifaceted brand. David Beckham is not just a brand with a distinct personality; he is a portfolio of brands, each emanating from the different roles he plays in life - football player, father, husband to Posh, fashionista, sexual icon, and so on.
We all play multiple roles in life - a man may be a father, husband, employee, and soccer coach for example. Each is a role that often requires different personalities to implement successfully.
In Beckham's case, each of his roles, through media scrutiny and marketing magnification, has become a separate brand - each different, but all managed by Beckham’s backroom marketing gurus. Each brand is similar, but has its own personality. In Beckham's case, each persona is a distinct segment, and from a business perspective, each is a profit centre. This is why his branding people rightly calculated that taking the Qatari deal was more lucrative in the long run than just being a gay icon in the west.
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To me David Beckham presents a unique case study of how a sportsman can transcend his sport by crossing over into the realms of entertainment and fashion. Although there are obvious lessons for other elite sports stars that desire to crossover into other arenas, it should be acknowledged that Beckham is thus far unique in the sports world in the way his brand personalities are leveraged in so many distinct ways than say Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, or even Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, or Lewis Hamilton. Manchester United fans used to chant from the terraces "there's only one David Beckham." Today, while still true, it has been the successful leveraging of Beckham’s multiple brand personalities that have made him into a true global sports brand. In essence, Beckham is perhaps the ultimate in how savvy marketing can make the brand.
We talk less of ‘Bend it like Beckham’ and more of ‘Brand it like Beckham’. In other words, style over substance - which could aptly describe our current age of personal narcissism and self-obsession.
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Thanks for your question.
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cant-get-no-worse · 2 years ago
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HI CIENE !!!!
i love love love your blog. seriously as a post wc footy fan (disculpe, por favor 💀🙏🏼) im trying to catch up on footy history & politics blah blah. you explain everything so beautifully, like you could rival tifo football on youtube. dead serious.
anyway, i wanted to ask if you could explain the whole neymar tryna sue barça episode bc im clueless there and coolers on twitter dot com are usless. ( not reshad tho !!! he’s so 😍 )
Hello love!! It's so sweet, thank you. I'm delighted to read my years of being shoved down this club's inability to keep finances and politics straight are proving themselves useful. 💀 And never apologize for becoming a footy fan recently; WCs are always wonderful in bringing new interest to the sport, they keep it fresh! Also, Reshad's one of the few Barça sources that usually doesn't get on my nerves, so. Kudos!
Anyways. I don't claim to have all the facts straights because I really don't, I'm just putting out there the very general ideas of what went down and my understanding of them. In today's episode: FC Barcelona, Neymar, Neymar's father, PSG, contracts clauses, and a lotta money. It is, after all, a rich man's world. Buckle up.
2013 : Neymar moves from Santos (Brazilian league) to FC Barcelona (Spanish league). Start of the problems.
See, it wasn’t a regular transfer. Initially, Neymar was set to go to Real Madrid; he’d even already passed medical tests. But Sandro Rosell (Barcelona then-President) bribed Neymar’s agent (his father. Very bright idea.) with some heavy fat checks. Neymar then signed to Barcelona. There were also some other movements which I’ll not get into.
What is important to retain from this is that Barcelona declared, in 2013, that Neymar's transfer from Santos costed FCB €50M (or something akin). But oh, color me surprised, they obviously didn’t declare the various amount of bribes and other money movements that had gone in to deter Neymar’s agent from Madrid and to bring the player to Barcelona.
Cause, ya know. That’s some sketchy stuff. You could also quite boldly say it’s illegal.
That’s where DIS Esporte, a company who “owned” Neymar (meaning : they were entitled to 40% of Neymar’s transfer rights) comes into play. DIS Esporte filed a lawsuit in late 2013/2014, claiming that they indeed had been paid 40% of the €50M declared transfer, but they believed the transfer didn’t cost only €50M (due to the bribes and such), and thus they were entitled to 40% of what the transfer actually costed.
A case was opened – this wasn’t small matter, Sandro Rosell (Barça Presi) resigned in 2014 due to the scandal - and it was finally settled before a judge that the €50M declaration was false, and the real transfer fee was more around the 70M/80M. Oops. Barcelona was eventually charged to pay some millions of compensation to close the case altogether.
Little did they know this was just the first taste of the Neymar financial issues and lawsuits ™.
October 2016 : Neymar signs a renewal contract binding him until 2021 with FC Barcelona. Everything’s happy and shiny, he’s Messi's successor, he's hot and successful, set to help his club win more UCLs, probably snatch a Ballon d’Or or two on the way, and continue to play in a swashbuckling style with his best buddies from Argentine and Uruguay.
The renewal contract includes several clauses, as do all such things, and most notably loyalty bonuses (money the player collects at the end of his contract). The loyalty bonuses of Neymar’s contract are around €43M, and since his release clause is an astronomical €222M, no way he’ll get out of the club lmfao.
July 2017 : Neymar gets out of the club.
In an unprecedented move in the football transfer world which leaves the market value of players forever changed for the worse, it is announced that PSG (French league) paid the €222M release clause with some good ol' Qatari money. The move in itself is subject to sketchy stuff, having been paid to FCB itself and not La Liga, but we're not gonna go into that cause na. Neymar himself announces, via a tearful Instagram video, that he is indeed leaving Barcelona.
Now, by the time rumors of his departure came around in May/June/July 2017, FC Barcelona had already paid €14M (out of the total €43M loyalty bonuses) to Neymar. Upon learning Neymar was actually entertaining the idea to leave, and then upon the actual €222M buying from PSG, the club stops the payment, thus not completing the initially agreed €43M sum, since they consider that, by leaving, Neymar hasn’t fulfilled his loyalty clause and thus isn’t entitled to receive any money from them.
An infamous se queda, some splendid social media trolling, a farewell dinner, the launch of a cold war from the FCB players against the board that was to last several years, some pretty creative insults and a life-time resentment being forged later, it’s August 2017.
August 2017 : Cicadas are singing, Despacito (feat Justin Bieber) is assaulting the eardrums of every unwilling car driver, and Neymar (or Neymar’s side, we don’t know from who the initiative came from) tries to sue Barcelona and ask them for the remaining €29M they claim he is owed from the loyalty bonuses.
FCB immediately respond by suing him back for breach of contract. Though they don’t only ask for him to drop the suing for the remaining €29M, naa. They also ask for him to return the €14M of the loyalty clause that had already been paid to him + 10% for delayed payment of said €14M + €8.5M in damages.
2019 summer transfer window : Amidst everything, Neymar and FC Barcelona reties links.
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Funny how quick business relationship can change when it’s in everyone’s benefits.
Neymar wants out of PSG, is even willing to pay himself out from his own pocket, FCB is all the more willing to try and get him back after their spectacular UCL fumble. However, the deal fails, PSG don’t want to let him go, FC Barcelona fall short of a few millions to buy him out, and Neymar stays.
February 2020 : Lo and behold! A wild, shiny new lawsuit has appeared! And guess what? It’s all linked to the messy 2013 transfer from Santos! Just when ya think the skeletons are buried, a closet is kicked open.
Neymar’s side, this time, sues FC Barcelona for contingency payments who helped him move from Santos to FCB: essentially, they want some €7M more. So, you got two cases launched against FCB by Neymar’s side.
 June/July 2020 : The cases are presented before a judge in the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. A place Neymar starts to get familiar with. A place Leo Messi also got to know! Ah, football players’ agents and the wonderful, luring world of tax evasion.
Anyways, back to the loyalty bonuses. It’s finally ruled that Neymar has indeed breached his contract, and is therefore ordered by court to pay €6.7M to FC Barcelona.
Oh, wow. Thank God this whole circus is finished.
July 2020 : Neymar’s side appeals.
November 2020 : Now, if you sum up everything that Neymar’s side ask from Barcelona, you get the charming sum of almost €60M.
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July 2021 : After many trials and tribulations, it is finally made public by the club that all cases and suing have been resolved amicably between the club and the player outside of court.
Read: huge amount of cash and verbal accords because, presumably, everyone got tired and saw they wouldn’t benefit neither financially nor image wise from the current situation.
And so, they lived happily ever after.
Or till the next summer transfer window.
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28mindgames · 1 year ago
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i'm not a boca juniors fan, i'm actually fan of their deadly enemy team: river plate, but but i love football, democracy and places of resistance.
today there are elections on boca and for the good of argentine football i only hope that juan roman riquelme wins. i'm watching on tv what's going on right now and it fills me with happiness to see that the club fans are going to the bombonera from all over the country just to vote because the club belongs to the people. it's an act of resistance to the modernity of the football business that macri, who has already been doing business with the qataris, who supports another model for our football and who wants to privatize boca, loses.
our league is not the premier league, it's not serie A, our league has a hundred and one problems and things to solve but the clubs belong to the people. the clubs deserve - due to their history, tradition and social function - to continue being civil associations, where thousands of fans have a voice and vote. this format that we have today it's almost romantic but that's how it should continue to be.
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#x
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