Less is more

That seems like an odd thing to say for the football fanatic that I am! But then I am also a firm believer in “less is more” sometimes. I remember Blatter once saying that he thought the World Cup should be organized every 2 years. Now that would be a really stupid idea! The magic – and tragedy – of the World Cup is that it is held only every 4 years. You only get a very rare chance as a player or team to attend the most prestigious competition ever held. If you start to “commoditize” the game then its intrinsic value will go down.

The same applies to the additional competitions many national federations are imposing where the only final motivation is to bring more money into the coffin. This is the case of the “Cup Leagues” which only professional teams can participate in. Come on, the only Cups that matters at the country level are the ones where all clubs can participate in, from the unknown district amateur team to the premier league pros. Not to mention the increasing amount of sponsor-backed friendly games and tours which in 99% of the cases are deadly boring.

You can now on television see dozens of games per week. When I was a kid, I remember that it was about one match a month! But how excited I was at the anticipation of being able to see a rare moment of my favourite sport! Once a month is surely to much on the scarce side but I am certain that the current orgy of games will one day be paid dearly for.

Maracanazos enjoy scarcity.