Club versus Country

The FIFA World Cup is no longer a platform to decide which country is the best footballing country in the world. Over the last few years it has been more a showcase for talent for the rich football clubs from Europe, South America, China, West Asia, India and Japan. The most attractive and malleable players are poached by the top European clubs, and the rest are distributed among the other clubs.

There are 736 players participating in the FIFA World Cup hosted by Russia this year. There are 32 coaches, and support staff amounting to another 400-odd men (almost all of them would be men). Every one of them is on parade and they are treated exactly like prized cattle or horseflesh, with a mixture of envy and contempt, by the owners; contempt because the owners can buy them, and envy because the “cattle” can do things that the owners cannot.