Former Wales striker Thomas Hal Robson-Kanu, who now runs the nutritional drinks company, The Turmeric Co., urges FIFA to ditch its biennial World Cup plans and to work with purpose-driven brands to grow the sport’s commercial appeal organically.
It has been a long time coming, but we find ourselves at an interesting juncture in our sport’s history. If we don’t tread carefully, we could well take a turning that we later come to regret.
After months of FIFA discussing the commercial opportunity that underpins plans for a biennial men’s World Cup, the governing body’s president, Gianni Infantino, has conceded that player welfare must come first before reshaping the international calendar.
Perhaps this is a sign that football’s conglomerates are now ready to sit down and listen to what the players have to say on the future of the game.
There’s no doubt that the World Cup holds enormous commercial appeal for the sport. In 2018, the tournament in Russia surpassed $5.3 billion in revenue, and this number is expected to grow again when the event is hosted in Qatar later this year.
However, asking players to increase workloads not only puts the game’s talent at higher risk of injury – it also endangers the quality of the game itself, with the game’s biggest stars given no time to breathe between domestic and international competition.
It’s a cruel part of football and there have been many careers ended prematurely through injury – yet it is an aspect of the sport that’s too often overlooked by the rights holders who shape the game. It’s hard to see a scenario where asking players play more games, including a major international tournament every summer, is going to genuinely support anyone beyond the event and media rights holders themselves.
For me, it sounds like an attempt to draw more money out of the game so football and its investors can get richer – rather than an altruistic movement that could be planned and delivered with collective input. In my mind, football should inspire change from the grassroots up, and shouldn’t rely on the sport’s biggest global event being squeezed for all that it’s worth.
Football has the power to do a great deal of good in the world outside it – and I’d commend FIFA’s pledge to support developing nations more if it didn’t mean putting more pressure on the players and staff. This will only justify the governing body’s demand for more overly saturated sponsorship and broadcast deals while there are other, more amenable ways for the game can grow commercially.
Optimise the digital audience
The acceleration of digital media has opened new opportunities for fans to watch live and on-demand football, opening the door for clubs and athletes to galvanise and attract new audiences outside of their respective competitions. For too long, football has been associated with the ticket and sponsorship revenues attached to major tournaments, rather than the values its fans hold dear.
Now that direct-to-consumer (DTC) media companies are increasing their stake in the sport and are drawing more capital from investors, we have the means to tap into a new generation of fans who connect with the sport in an entirely different light.
These include peripheral fans who might watch the men’s World Cup and Euros every two years but have yet to truly embrace the sport into their lives. In turn, this helps to grow the game organically, without cutting up and repackaging the current competition model. This invites people to learn more about the game’s other assets too, including the women’s competition, which has grown more popular by adopting brand sponsors which shine a light on female sport as an attraction in its own right, and not a sideshow to the men’s edition.
For me, social awareness is where the game has the greatest chance to make a real difference in the world. The hope is to give more room for football in order to build closer bonds with the people who truly value its role in society. Working with sponsors that understand the meaning of growing profit through purpose is important too; educating fans on the matters of social health, individual freedoms, and collective equality – essentially planting seeds to help them flourish in life.
Building advocacy among fans in this way forms a major part of my role as a chief executive. Since we launched The Turmeric Co. in 2018, the company’s ambition has been to educate audiences on healthy living and deliver functional wellness support to people from all walks of life. In doing so, we always put athlete welfare at the heart of our sporting partnerships.
Football is unlike any other sport
Unlike the Olympics, football rarely takes a break. While the summer and winter Olympics are held every two years, the Games represent a four-year cycle for many of its participants who might get one, or maybe two, shots at glory.
If we take the National Football League (NFL) as another example, you only have to look at the size of their playing squads to understand just how resilient “soccer” players have to be to remain fit for duty… and just how commercially driven the NFL’s front office has become to optimise annual take-home for the six months of the year it is featured.
Although global soccer is a different beast entirely, with the proper governance and support for talent, we can help increase the quality of the competition already in place and optimise the commercial appeal – without harming player welfare.
That’s why, in my opinion, the risks to player safety outweigh any financial opportunity to be gained by endorsing a biennial World Cup. Of course, there may be more opportunities to commercialise the sport by growing and optimising football’s digital assets and ecommerce ventures, working alongside brands that align with their own values.
On the contrary, if a biennial tournament is given a green light, and Infantino gets his way, I fear FIFA will cause irreversible damage to the beautiful game and the players and fans who make it so.
Hal Robson Kanu played 46 times for Wales and more than 450 club games across England’s professional leagues. He was a player with West Bromwich Albion until October last year. He now runs The Turmeric Co and he might have retired from football, but he has done that before and come back.