How England’s football league is breaking the sport

[@Search-Party]

Welcome to Search Party! I'm really glad you're here at our official launch. If you're interested in further supporting Search Party, we're offering a membership program. For $3.99/month you can become a Search Party Original. It'll directly go towards supporting our independent journalism and help us shape the direction of this channel. You'll receive a Search Party badge that will update over time, so you'll always be recognized as one of our first members. More information on how to join here: kzbin.info/door/7KbIaEOuY7H2j-cvhJ3mYAjoin

[@JanweriAdeel]

We fully support you as much as we can ❤️

[@moon_spirit1]

Yessss🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@misanthropicsophist]

i would realy love to see some videos on e-sports

[@lamonszorro]

Will you ever be available on Nebula? I love that platform for explainers!

[@sumirunihon]

make videos like this with esports. i'd love to have a story like that covered in this format.

[@siroswaldfortitude5346]

I'm English, and believe me, most fans here think it has gone too far as well. Man Citeh have 115 charges against them for cheating, Chelsea buy anything that can run, and some owners are draining the clubs dry. Meanwhile its now expensive for the working classes to go to the matches, football shirts cost a fortune, and television subscriptions are expensive. If Uefa and FIFA were not so corrupt, they would be able to deal with this.

[@BeakaD]

Uefa is very strict in their competitions. But they can only enforce it on a few clubs

[@Freigeist2008]

It is easy. Dont consume this shit. I do it since a decade. There will be nothing changed otherwise

[@victorsamsung2921]

They that dance pay the fiddler. What comes around goes around. Man City will face the consequences.

[@jamesphillips7885]

implement fifas 6+5 rule and the game will change overnight

[@jamesphillips7885]

@@BeakaD they arent strict at all. the blocked fifas 6+5 rule

[@johnnyharris]

And just like that I’m interested in Sports! (Sam’s got lots more stories like this in the works)

[@xolasidziya8702]

Johnny.

[@tomasverndes6195]

Love your videos, can you make a video about the book "Guns, Germs, and Steel"?

[@bigishdave1862]

Should probably do one about the Saudi League and how they’re hurting the sport then.

[@brodoxl]

Johnny, this is the beginning of a new chapter, a bigger one, i am excited for what the future will hold.

[@jaded.PHANTOM]

You guys should come to Australia to do a story on Australian Rules Football, and trace back to it's roots as a game invented by Indigenous Australians before white man arrived. Political/sport/history story 😁

[@JCNL871]

Leagues from smaller countries like The Netherlands, Portugal etc have been struggling with this for years. But now the power imbalance is even affecting the other top four leagues. The power imbalance has slowly been ruining football for the past 25 years or so

[@LuffyL-ch1ku]

The talent drain from smaller leagues really sucks, promising talents can't even stay a full season in the lower leagues. In Belgium we produce a lot of talent and have a policy of not wasting any talent and they get snatched by the premier league within a few months.

[@sparkz2337]

@@LuffyL-ch1ku same here in Portugal We lost Diaz, Vieira and Vitinha so fast its unreal

[@Wozza365]

It's even worse in the very small Eastern leagues, with those countries bring even poorer, they are being signed up almost in bulk before they've even shown enough talent. Lots are given U21 contracts and never even make it with the club they sign for

[@Harry-q3y4q]

Well football is English the football league is stronger than most european leagues

[@LuffyL-ch1ku]

@@Harry-q3y4q Not the strongest through English talent though.

[@Djiehh]

Two facts that I feel are missing from the video to add some context: The fact that fewer countries are represented in late rounds of the Champions League is massively influenced by the fact that until the mid-90s, every country was only able to send a single club to the competition, whereas now up to four clubs from the top countries can qualify in parallel. Also, the Premier League always had the built-in advantage of being the one top competition that was from an English-speaking country. English is the most universal language today, and while there are lots of people who speak Spanish and quite a few who speak French, they tend to have their own native leagues to watch, whereas people from Asia and North America (except for Mexico) would find it most convenient to watch PL football in the original English presentation as opposed to German, French, Spanish or Italian football.

[@Wozza365]

Having multiple tiers of competition is great for allowing smaller countries a chance at getting European representation. Even without the huge financial difference, it's unlikely a club from Macedonia would ever compete with the best from England, Germany, France and Italy. But Conference League gives those countries some chance. Although even then, both winners so far have been from the "big" football countries.

[@giovanniferrari2198]

That's as simple as a great point just missing in the video. Also, before Champions League there were 3 international competitions, and all of them were quite prestigious, from three we then moved to two only (5O% less just right there) and Champions League became what it is now with 4 (or even 5 teams potentially) from the strogenst championship. Now we back to three and that's great I think. Also in the video is missing the decisive Bosman ruling (1995) that changed the entire landscape.

[@rks5457]

Maybe it's just me but I wish I could watch without hearing the commentators. Aside from some color commentary, I don't need a description of what's going on. It's not a very complicated sport. I watch other leagues all the time and I find it better when I can't understand the commentary lol. I just wanted to watch the best play the best.

[@NazriB]

Lies again? Premier League Pah Lawan

[@otakuhunter4817]

very true ,from a south asian native

[@ohthatswhygo]

As someone from Sheffield (who lives just down the road from Hillsborough Stadium) it's really impressive how you're able to take so many big topics around English Football and it's history and apply the deserved nuance to them - all whilst keeping the video to less than 15 minutes! Looking forward to future vids already.

[@JammersDaEagle83]

Yeah that's great, but he really should have checked what actually happened and how many people lost their lives due to the incompetence of the police, who then lied and the cover up began. JFT97 YNWA

[@electron8262]

No way! I just finished studying in sheffield and that's where I used to live! Did you live near Upperthorpe?

[@electron8262]

*do

[@dylanmurphy9389]

@@JammersDaEagle83he said it happened due to bad crowd control which is obviously the police’s job

[@JammersDaEagle83]

@@dylanmurphy9389 yes he did say that, he also mentioned poor stadium design wwhich is true, but also he said that it "caused the fans to stampede" which isn't true, we were CRUSHED due to police putting 80% of the fans in the centre in caged pens, while the other two sides were near empty! He also said that 96 people lost their lives, a other falsehood that involved the now uncovered cover up as there were 97 people who went to a football game and didn't come home! If you're going to make the effort to make this type of video then fact check the history is all I'm saying. JFT97 YNWA

[@CleoAbram]

IMMEDIATELY became a member. This channel is amazing, and it's just the beginning. Congratulations Sam!

[@Search-Party]

thanks cleo!!!

[@noone-ld7pt]

Eyy my favourite optimist in tha house!!

[@Adam26b]

Okey this channel is gonna be epic some might say Huge...if true

[@e-ben616]

Cleo please do another video. This Nigerian brother can't go any longer without your optimistic journalism.😅

[@Ok-lu8gx]

ok

[@alej.5704]

It was mentioned in this but I think Barcelona’s complete mismanagement and all the financial levers they’d had to pull to even finance a new stadium and win LaLiga this season deserves it’s own video. Always enjoy new sports channel like this on KZbin!

[@jout738]

Fc Barcelona wasent trying to keep up with the money spending of the English football clubs. It was just Bartomeu who was spending the money of Fc Barcelona so poorly, that it caused Fc Barcelona to go a lot in debt and they were in risk to become mid-tier club.

[@sigurdnf9121]

⁠@@jout738I don’t think Barcelona were ever in risk of becoming a mid tier club for two reasons. Barcelona and Real Madrid are the most attractive clubs for football players. If they weren’t so attractive I think they would struggle getting new quality signings, the academy helps a lot as well

[@ShaamanRyu]

Athletic interest did that kzbin.info/www/bejne/aaPGlJpumZxgm5Isi=vsL--EcAgTqlFR3I

[@repubug1365]

Chelsea will be the next barcelona

[@thehearingaid]

if you don't follow tifo - they cover lots of good topics - and have done the barca stuff

[@leila4509]

In many African countries, the Premier League is HUGE. In the most remote areas people pay a small fee to watch the games on large screens, it’s rare to go a day without seeing someone wearing some jersey, every kid dreams of becoming a professional footballer, small talk is arguing about coaches and teams, highlights of big games are discussed during local news… I mean it’s EVERYWHERE. As a kid, I always thought the names of the clubs were just random names-imagine my shock when I grew up and realized they were actually English cities! Long story short - the TV broadcasting has made the league international. It’s my league as much as any English man. Great vid.

[@ryandanngetich2524]

Very correct. Especially the English cities part, I was shocked too. It also gives the UK huge soft power

[@LiamBushrod]

this was one of my biggest shocks when I was in Africa! Everyone, and I mean literally everyone, supports one of the big six and couldn't understand why I'd support a club that doesnt win anything like Southampton. But when I explained to them that it's my hometown and all these clubs are mostly just places, I think that made them think

[@dbz9393]

@@LiamBushrod its because they are plastic football fans, i.e not real fans just interested in the money and glorychasing, can't understand for a second that it's more than trophies and money

[@siyandakubheka671]

Or maybe they are just interested in seeing the best vs the best​@@dbz9393

[@mnd7381]

​@@dbz9393 totally bs. A random African or Asian dude will not have any attachment to some random English city like Southampton or Leeds like a Brit. It's just not possible. Most foreigners tend to support a good team that performs and is popular. How many would watch Nottm Forest vs Luton Town in other countries? Its the same reason Bundesliga and Ligue 1 has lesser fans.

[@nostalgeomusic]

Good stuff! As a European, I'm fascinated by how big college sports are in the US. The size of the stadiums, the facilities, the fanbases are mind blowing. But there's also the business side of it and how players can't earn money whilst being a student athlete. Would love to see a video about this 😄

[@lesleyperalta1373]

All athletes have NIL deals middle school, and high school kids are starting to make $100,000.

[@youtuber6193]

South Park made a good episode on student athletes and the college sports system, effectively comparing it to the slave trade.

[@mattbray_studio]

yeah id love to see that too

[@shake4259]

They can make money now, actually many are making millions before even entering college

[@Hahlen]

Actually within the last couple years it has become legal for college athletes to take sponsorships and brand deals

[@michaeljames0204]

Well done, I love the format! As a Canadian and avid Hockey fan, Id love a story done about why no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since Montreal did in 1993.

[@emeral311]

Most Canadians play on American teams. More money.

[@alanstewart4745]

I don't fully understand Hockey every Canadian I know tells me that the Maple Leaf's are the biggest club in Hockey yet they haven't won the Stanley Cup since the 60's. What's that all about?

[@voiceofreason2674]

Are you serious ? I don't watch hockey at all but I figured it was like the leafs vs the habs at the top

[@gmoo84]

I was just thinking about this yesterday! Would be a good one

[@mikeym.1461]

A question pretty much every Canadian is asking .... WTF is up with no wins since 93 ??

[@charlesnd2-0]

This channel is what we’ve all been hoping for…

[@ZeroCool1point6]

I agree mate

[@M-kula]

Best said

[@daarom3472]

What England does now was Italy between 1985-2000 and Barca, Real and Bayern between 2000-2018.

[@kareemd4082]

Facts.

[@internet_userr]

No not for me why am I here I am questioning reality Do we live in a matrix Why am I even commenting Are we being controlled Who's controlling us Are the controllers good If they're good then why do bad things happen Are we in a simulation

[@mesicek7]

1:04 Was the other way around in the 90s Italian clubs were spending crazy amounts of money, breaking transfer records almost every few seasons.

[@BlackRoseImmortal75]

yeah but they dominated europe during that period. English teams spent a lot and barely won something.

[@mesicek7]

@@BlackRoseImmortal75 Compared to Italian and Spanish teams they didn't spend as much. Altetico Madrid for instance spent over 60m in 1997. Betis broke the world transfer record for Denilson,... Newcastle were spending crazy and were basically the Chelsea of the 90s.

[@BlackRoseImmortal75]

@@mesicek7 consider they now spend the most on wages compared to 90, not only transfert fees. They spend way more today,, gain more money also but the spending of pl is huge.

[@mesicek7]

@@BlackRoseImmortal75 Because current EPL is the Serie A of 90s except back then most clubs didn't have the money and then you had a ton of clubs going bankrupt - Lazio, Fiorentina, Parma...

[@mesicek7]

@@BlackRoseImmortal75 Yes that's why it happened. Serie A in the 90s didn't get money from sponsorships and tv rights deals like the EPL does now. Back then you had sugar daddies competing with each other who's gonna sign the best player - they were funding these transfers with their own money. You could see the downfall of Milan started in the late 00s when Berlusconi stopped the money pump - remember the joke about Milan having oldtimers because they had so many players in their mid 30s playing for them? They sold Kaka for a record fee and that helped them a bit but in the end they ahd to sell their 2 best players to PSG in the early 2010s.

[@withindreams]

Absolutely wonderful video on a very delicate topic. Here in Europe, many have called football as it used to be, dead. “Our football”, meaning the game we've all played and watched growing up, is no more. It's been completely changed by rampant foreign investment, corruption, greed, and as of most recently, oil money.

[@charlietran7182]

Speaking of oil money, I can't wait to see Newcastle slowly become the new PSG. When you have a foreign nation like Saudi Arabia as sugar daddy, that's like fantasy football

[@navist5177]

​@@charlietran7182 Premier league = Oil league

[@feister2869]

Yea but if money could buy you the league, what happened to psg?

[@rinzo2009]

@withindreams You have said what's on my mind. And it's quite sad.

[@Rasarel]

😂🎉 Doesn't matter, at least with the Camel and Burger superleagues football is going to disappear from Europe altogether in the next 10 years 😂

[@chrismason6857]

As an English Chelsea supporter who grew up during this period of the last 20 years, I can really relate to this story. My grandad tried to warn me that all this money was dangerous to the sport when I was an excited kid who wanted his team to win. Turns out he was right. Well done.

[@exeterra4825]

@jake-wq2vb Italian and Spanish clubs never outspent the other 4 leagues combined. No league has ever reached such financial dominance as permier league has now.

[@philz.1521]

@jake-wq2vb Spain and Italy did it by getting a competitive advantage via good talent scouting and refining tactics. The Premier League did it by throwing a bunch of money at the wall and hope it sticks. No other clubs can afford to blow 100 Million on players that turned out to be not good enough for the first squad and be fine. Most clubs outside of the Premier League can't even afford the 100 Million in the first place.

[@L1am21]

​@@philz.1521how is signing zidane beckham Roberto Carlos R9 cr7 figo owen and McMahon good cheap scouting lol

[@philz.1521]

@@L1am21 they had these signings after they already had success. The reason they got to spend that money is mostly through their own net income. Unlike Chelsea and ManCity who spend money they never earned themselves.

[@osalenuwidia2600]

@philz.1521 I would like to present a counter argument just to play devil's advocate a little. How does a club who isn't wealthy, and who have no history or reputation compete? That is a herculean task. It is more difficult even if you have the best scouts to attract talent to your club when she is not very rich or when she has no history. How would you market the club to prospective players? One of the main advantages of opening the clubs up to foreign investments is the fact that a small club can actually compete with a big club when a financial "sugar daddy" is involved. And before you come for me, let's look at other leagues where such money isn't involved. In Italy, Juventus won the league for 10 years straight. In Germany, that's Bayern and its hardly even competitive. It's difficult to outbid Bayern as a German club if they really want you. In Spain, the Spanish league has been dominated by Barca and Madrid (the clubs with the most money and history) with the exception of those league wins by Athletico Madrid. Money allows for more competition. I admit that some control should be put in place but I won't be one to hate on the money. Fans of clubs that have history but are not doing well currently are likely to be more disgruntled now because their advantage over other nouveau riche clubs is gone so they yearn for the times when they had more influence and their chances of success were higher. To add to this, the English league is actually more competitive. Surprising results are thrown up every now and then. Another advantage of the English league is that they have really good PR and it helps that English is one of the worlds most popular languages (blame the British colonial masters and American dominance for this one) so when you factor in all these advantages, the EPL will keep on keeping on. In addition to this, one thing that was not mentioned is how the English love football. I have seen top flight league games in other countries where the stadiums are empty; that hardly happens in England. It's as though every Premier league game has an attendance rate of over 80%. That means more ticket money. Other leagues have their work cut out for them if we are being honest. I would say that leagues have more to copy from the Premier league. Unfortunately, I think the Neymar and Mbappe Transfers were the catalysts of the inflation we see in football today and when smaller clubs that have no "sugar daddies" see bigger clubs with the money are willing to spend, the will milk the opportunity dry. I understand the need for a kind of equality so that the league will be more competitive though: it's going to be difficult to do. How do we do that without punishing a club simply because they are rich? Will it be fair to allow wealthy owners of smaller clubs to inject private funds for a period of time after which the window closes? It worked for Chelsea. It worked for City. That might just be what to do. Money made the big 4 in England into a big 6. Also, money doesn't always translate into competitiveness. Everton is an unfortunate example of this. Manchester United also spent the same amount City spent but look at their results. Money does buy success...but not all the time.

[@luis.fcaldeira]

You didnt cover one key matter: the Bosman Law, which allowed european clubs to sign any number of players from EU as they want, instead of a fixed number of foreign players like before. That is when football actually started breaking, with rich clubs concentrating all the best players, marginalizing teams like Ajax, Red Star and south americans (with were as good or better than the best european teams), basically turning them into "player exporters", instead of the final destination

[@TopeA8]

Which is why I laugh when people say that Saudi are ruining the sport for Europe. The EPL is essentially an earlier version of the Saudi league. They say that true football is in Europe, but I am not sure this is the case. Arguably South America for example is buttressing Europe. On its own, it can compete with Europe, and without it, Europe is lesser. And the football there is more pure. So in essence, playing in the EPL as opposed to lets say playing in Argentina or Brazil is essentially a 'money move'. It is not a move for 'football' as pundits say.

[@KissellMissile]

Once there were no regional limitations, this end was inevitable. Financial restrictions cannot fix the problem.

[@scottehftm]

The bosman ruling was to do with being able to move at the end of their contract without a transfer fee and has nothing to do with country of origin.

[@redsfanwakey]

@@TopeA8 The Premier League was never anything like what the Saudi league currently is. The Saudi league is spending far more money than it generates, funded by the State. The Premier League spent rather conservatively pre-Abramovich. Things were a little crazy 2005-2010, but since then teams again are spending broadly in line with revenues, notwithstanding Chelsea's recent splurge. I'm also not sure what you mean by "they say that true football is in Europe". I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone say that, however it is true that European teams, and arguably the leagues, are the best in terms of the quality of players. I agree that South American players, and by extension the leagues in which they developed, have a significant impact on the quality of European football. It is also true that, yes, money is a key factor in why players move from South American leagues to European leagues. However, there is more money because the quality is better. And then, the quality is better because there is more money. It's cyclical, and something that will be hard to break, until South American leagues can find a way to encourage their players to stay, and convince the world that the football is worth watching. It is sad that football has turned into a money machine, and plenty of English people are turning away from the Premier League due to the depressing commercialisation of the game. There is less emphasis on the "local fan", with astronomical ticket prices only affordable to wealthy tourists. However, European football as a whole, and particularly the Premier League, remains the best in terms of the quality and excitement.

[@steveg2479]

@luis I fail to see your point. The EU has freedom of movement, and I never could see how football could have a rule that contravened the law. Bosman proved that in court. Also, big clubs like Real, Bayern, Ajax, monopolised local talent at the expense of smaller teams. The English premier league is no different, it is just a business like any other.

[@tnductai]

you missed one of the key points on how the broadcast right is so expensive now: EPL did so well in promoting their league in asia, especially south east asia, by offering them a cheap package back in the 2000s.

[@lzh4950]

Singapore had an 'interesting' case where it's 2 pay-TV operators SingTel (which was newer to this business) & StarHub (the original incumbant) were trying to outbid each other for EPL broadcasting rights. When SingTel finally managed to win the rights in c. 2010, it was guessed to have shelled out almost S$400m (~£240m) for a 3 yr contract, but it still sold its subscription plans for EPL at a pretty reasonable S$25/month, believed to be because SingTel believed it could attract more subscribers to its other pay-TV channels too, now that it had EPL broadcasting rights. The subscribers could increase SingTel's revenue (by subscribing to its other pay-TV channels too) & help subsidize it's EPL broadcasting rights' contract. However a few years later the gov't changed the laws & forced whoever won the broadcasting rights to also sell some rights to the other pay-TV operator (probably so that the operators would lose the incentive to spend so much money to outbid each other). Thus if SingTel won the rights, it would lose its power to attract more subscribers (as they could still watch EPL if they originally had a subscription with pay-TV rival StarHub). As a result, EPL monthly subscription fees doubled. World Cup subscription fees are pretty expensive here too, at ~S$112/month (~US$75), which might've been due to FIFA seeing how much SingTel was willing to pay to outbid StarHub for the EPL broadcasting rights, & thus making it's World Cup broadcasting rights more expensive too. The Euros meanwhile cost S$88/month (~€60) to subscribe, & that's the early bird rate.

[@justinsm]

especially their time match. Even though back in 2000s most matches are mostly man Utd but they were challenging Serie A and takeover after their decline

[@Posting7]

Great first episode! As for sports here are some potential topics: 1. The Saudi take over of golf 2. Doping in Track and Field 3. The conflict between the NBA and the Big 3 league (Ice Cube has accused the NBA of trying to stop the BIG 3 league). 4. The business of NCAA sports and their recruiting 5. The NBA and China 6. How the Saudis are trying to take over Tennis.

[@RaulEdu33]

7. The Saudis football league signing all the top soccer players from Europe.

[@One.Zero.One101]

8. Corrupt judges in boxing 9. Suspension of Russian athletes due to doping

[@HashimShaikh94]

Fifa World Cup scandal. Stadiums and the renovation plans for the future and how they adapt to stay ahead. Player agents and what they do in football. (Maybe work with The Athletic)

[@martytu20]

1 and 6 could be condensed into Saudi sportswashing and why.

[@Negaticc]

people are so mad at the saudis when then west did it for hundrets of years already. are we mad because they take our proven system and use it for themselves?

[@richardayton6862]

As an English football fan, I can say honestly that most people in this country hate the money that has ruined our game. Outside of the top few clubs, unless some nation state comes in and throws billions at the club, you know that you can't ever really compete. Leicester City were a once in a generation exception and even they have been relegated, as they just couldn't afford to keep competing at that level. Clubs being relegated from the Premier League used to be the most likely to come back up. Now they can sink right through the leagues and go bust as the income is so much less. People have started turning to non-league and lower league football as it's more competitive.

[@sneakerprep8541]

Ironic that u use Leicester as an example when they are just like these other clubs... owned by thai billionaires... Sometimes you also simply don't know what you're missing... Lets not act like Man Utd didn't DOMINATE the league in the 90s and Liverpool back in the 70s and 80s... The PL has always had dominant teams witch occasional smaller teams winning, Arsenal Liverpool and Man Utd... Football isn't as simple as just buying players, sure city done a good job, but look at PSG (barely winning ligue 1), Real Madrid always seems to compete for UCL either way... Look at Aston Villa this season... I think english football being rich is great

[@kryn1030]

"People have started turning to non-league football" since when? Nobody I know watches anything outside the Prem and the championship.

[@mysteryhombre81]

It's hilarious and ironic, that Leicester with it's 'lowely' billionaire owner at the time (RIP) is used as the underdog story. Shows just how much of a unfathomable amount of money the richest clubs and owners have.

[@mysteryhombre81]

@@kryn1030 I think what he means is in physical attendance. Which is actually becoming true. . TV and pub wise however you are right.

[@ashfaqsheikh3134]

Man City has worked there ass off lol. And have made the infrastructre and academies which produces talent as well as buying good players for good nice money 😮😮 and turn them into great and legendary players 😊 by the helpnof none other than Pep Guardiola ❤. Man Ciry has startes from the foundations and worked its way up. Now at the top. And I would like to see lower clubs get money so they can compete if thwy want​@@sneakerprep8541

[@Patfan91]

I would love to see a story about the Saudi Arabian football league in its impact that it’s having on sports washing through all the new high-end talent they’re bringing in

[@Search-Party]

v interested to see how this Mbappé situation shakes out 👀

[@johnsexton3841]

@@Search-Party It will push the EPL into spending more to keep the players they have lured away from the rest of Europe and South America.

[@Patfan91]

@@Search-Party true, glad I’ve joined the channel, good luck 👍

[@mymemories925]

Man City and psg began this trend 😂

[@left4deadR]

​@@mymemories925city is not psg you fool. They win ucl

[@liamduffy8290]

Love the video as an EPL fan from Liverpool! Just a quick note, 97 fans perished at Hillsborough in 1989. A man suffered life altering injuries that ultimately lead to his death a few years back. This is something we in Liverpool never forget and always respect, no matter who's teams colours you wear

[@rambi1072]

As terrible as it was, at least it led to The Sun no longer being sold in Liverpool

[@justinsm]

Not to mentioned the Heysel tragedy in 1985

[@JSR-w4l]

I think two important contexts are needed to be added: 1. English clubs were dominating Europe during the late 70s and early 80s up until their ban in European competitions due to Heysel. English fans saw this an injustice (conspiracy) against English football by UEFA, and makes the justification of having the prem as the top league due to this ("if we haven't been banned in Europe, we would have been number 1") 2. There was a domestic league in Europe that is comparable to today's prem (and is a kind of a superleague) and that is the Serie A in the 1990s. They're kind of like the prem today due to how the big clubs (seven sisters like inter, milan, juve, lazio, roma, parma, fiorentina) gets all the the best players in the world, similar to prem today. Hell even Bournemouth size clubs there like Brescia and Bari can get players from clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid. I mentioned this because of a lot of similarities between it and the premier league today, and btw it is probably much more popular than the premier league in England itself during the 90s (Gazzetta Football Italia for instance). As well, this was also the often the justification for the current situation by prem/English fans. Since serie A in the 90s did it, why couldn't they as well?

[@BobBob-zu2dt]

Yes i knew that something similar happened before, just couldn't remember the name of the league (also provided way more context then i could have.

[@korculaamv9820]

Yugoslav wars also happened which broke Yugoslav's very strong league and part of the best players left to join Italian Clubs which added to the Rising Italian dominance of their league in the 90s, it was like 2 Leagues combining

[@shutupworkid9735]

It was the case during the 2000s and early 2010’s aswell with la liga. Real Madrid during the ‘galacticos’ era literally went out of their way to buy the best player in the world every transfer window, breaking the bank everytime, it’s a natural cycle of life within football. Just this time, it’s involving sums of cash no one could have dreamt of.

[@PhilipDShaw]

I also think that there was more diversity in the semi finals because the European cup was only open to league champions (and the winners of the European Cup). If top countries were allowed to enter four teams like in the Champions League now, I think it would have been dominated even more by England and the other big leagues.

[@jacobdunn4991]

There is a big difference between the PL of today to the Serie A of the 90s. Those Serie A clubs in the 90s were owned by rich Italian business men who overspent to chase the dream like Blackburn in the 90s & Leeds in early 2000s. They were not owned by a Foreign State like Newcastle or Man City. Lazio, Napoli, Fiorentina & Parma ended up going bankrupt. The money eventually dried up for AC Milan, Inter & Roma. Juventus had to deal with the consequences of Calciopoli. I think Paul Gascoigne transfer history in 90s highlights how different football was and how it's changed. England's number 1 midfielder leaves Tottenham for Lazio and then goes to Rangers at the age of 28. I can't see something like that happening in today's football.

[@mohammedrizwan7207]

As an avid football fan, its great to see European Football being covered by an American Journalist. There's so many more stories worth telling in football! The mad obsession with football in less popular leagues such as in South America, Eastern Europe, certain parts of India and Asia, etc is a great topic. Would also be interesting to have a story on the recent rise of Women's football and the challenges it still faces.

[@lzh4950]

Meanwhile I read that passions in Indonesia's football league is so strong that fatal fights have broke out between fans of different clubs, & away fans are now banned from matches. In 2022 a fatal stampede also occurred when riot police fired tear gas into a stadium to disperse unruly fans, which however also panicked other law-abiding fans. It was later revealed that the riot police were unaware the FIFA had banned tear gas from stadiums. The following year the country also lost the hosting right to the Youth World Cup as the head of its football federation (& perhaps the country's immigration policies too) had opposed Israel sending its team to participate there, in protest against the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The country's then president had earlier suggested that Israel's matches be played in another nearby country instead but that was rejected

[@Damemer]

This channel is going to skyrocket to immense success in no time. Outstanding quality. Excited for the future, videos like this are well needed. Interesting and informative for both sports fans, and for people who have never even seen a match. Amazing job!

[@moos5221]

This documentary made it sound like as if the english clubs investments really paid off, when in fact it really didn't. In the past 10 years english clubs won the champions league only 3x (Germany 1x, Spain 6x) and Chelsea finished the league in Rank 12 after spending the record breaking 300+ million €. Paris spent billions and has yet to win anything in europe, having been quite unsuccessful. The greatest success the investors had, was to green wash their image in England, which is also an important reason why they are investing such large sums in England. You should ask someone from London how they feel about the russian Oligarch Roman Abramovic and then compare to the opinion from people anywhere else in the world. Chelsea fans couldn't understand why that corrupt Oligarch was forced to sell the club after Russia attacked Ukraine. Same goes for the dictators from the middle east that own clubs in England. You wouldn't hear criticism about their crimes against humanity from any english football fan, because they were essentially bribed. I'm incredibly happy for every club with any of these criminal investors that fail, always cheering on the underdog that respects the financial and ethical fairplay.

[@adhirajvallabh9758]

Hi, absolutely loved the video and look forward to more from this channel. One thing I would like to add is that I feel you forgot to mention one of the biggest reasons as to what makes the premier league the richest and biggest in the world and that’s competition. I feel like the sport of football at the end of the day boils down to competitiveness. Leagues such as the German league, La Liga, Ligue 1 have virtually no competition because those leagues are structured in ways which would mean that only a couple of teams would ever even have the chance of winning a title or a trophy. What makes the premier league so entertaining to watch is that every year we get to see new and extremely entertaining underdog and rags to riches stories, hell I believe the entire reason why the premier league is so successful is because of such stories. Investors can come in and buy worser clubs with virtually no hopes of winning anything and take them to the top, along with their fans ie City, Chelsea, Newcastle etc. Furthermore, clubs like brighton and southampton can regularly compete for trophies by selling talent they spotted for hundreds of millions of dollars, helping them continue to write their fairytale for their fans after being promoted. I feel this does not exist in any other league in the world, this feeling of competition, of unexpectedness and of excitement is what separates the PL from leagues such as bundesliga where it is a given that Bayern will win the title before the league even starts. I believe the ability to monopolize a league like that and almost have absolutely 0 competition is what is more harmful than promoting a system where any small fan of any small team can one day hope to win it all and that something like that is actually possible. That is what makes the PL special to me and that’s the reason why it is such a good product to the world as a whole. It provides the highest quality of football with the most excitement and the highest level of competition in world football, hence making it attractive for investors and fans alike as any well run product should do😊

[@knosse]

As a football fan from Hannover, Germany, I'm just so glad the Bundesliga didn't make the same mistake of letting in huge investors (yet...). Even though we might lose out to big money and fall short of premier league clubs, we still have what football is ment to be: A sport owned by the fans. Down to the third division, we have some of the most passionate fans in europe. German clubs who are largely owned by investors or corporations are hated by almost all german football fans. Big investors are ruining our sport and most people in Germany feel that way. I know it might seem irrational at first, but really football means more to us than just winning. It's hard to explain, but football is a part of our culture and we won't let investors take it away from us.

[@FalseNineYT]

As a lower league english football fan, the premier league clubs are certainly losing that soul of their clubs but look into the second div all the way down to the 5th or 6th tier and you have amazing community based clubs

[@L.C.Sweeney]

A lot of English PL fans feel that way, as far as I know. But their stupidity and hatred towards other clubs makes them overlook the long term damage these owners will cause. I have absolutely no sympathy for English football fans. They turn a blind eye to everything for the sake of a win - cheating, corruption and loss of heritage.

[@luxid413]

@@L.C.Sweeneylol what

[@martinzurko2762]

Yea,thats all well and peachy,but you have much bigger problem in Bundeslegue…your league is the most uncompetetive in Europe,your overseas tv revenue is stagnant because who would watch Bayern wining it over and over again…

[@karlos777x]

@@martinzurko2762 yet, Bayern have won more champions than many Petro dollar premier clubs, money Bayern create from football not from selling the club. Problems? All clubs have them. Some (premier league clubs) are allowed to bury them with money coming from who knows where. Got it?

[@allgot1]

I think you guys could tell the story about Formula 1's travels and spending like this very well, with their focus on 2030 net-neutral emissions, the current way they operate is unsustainable, and at some points during the season downright unessesary. Loved the video, keep em coming! ❤

[@alvechy]

No pressure @CleoAbram

[@shems53]

Also women's f1 is an interesting topic

[@mikko3]

The way F1 operates now is finally sustainable with the cost cap, its not environmentally sustainable but neither is any form of entertainment even soccer

[@falconeshield]

​@@shems53Isnt F1 open though

[@falconeshield]

​@@mikko3Yeah the environment part is gonna hurt F1 in the long run

[@BIuffs]

What amazes me with channel like yours is that in 24 years of life I was at best mildly concerned by football and even then only ever during World Cups, which as a french person was a big event (bar 2010). But well done documentaries like those, that dive deeper into that very complex world makes me appreciate it more, to the point I even started checking out results and news. Well done

[@ccityplanner1217]

0:07: You have Chelsea's location incorrect on the map. It is 1 mile to the east of Fulham, which is in the correct positron.

[@KwakuNyame]

Look at the location of Chelsea at 7:19

[@ccityplanner1217]

@@KwakuNyame : That's not a location on a map, that's a location on a chart which has as its background a map.

[@aseemlimbu7672]

I would love to see the video on "West Indies Cricket". How strong they were and how the t20 franchise leagues destroyed their cricket.

[@aldomoreau6091]

i literally just asked for the same thing

[@imviiku]

This is so wrong ! West Indies were terrible even before the T20 League's arrived . They actually won 2 WC's after the advent of T20 Leagues

[@kakun63]

i hope the same happens in India so finally other atheltes and sports can shine this 8 team sports need to be eradicated

[@LabiBradleyC]

West Indies cricket was in decline before the advent of T20 cricket but T20 cricket effectively finished it off.

[@boslys140]

This video is so well made, so polished! The team behind this channel will continue to do great work. To the degree that I am jealous for not being a part of it!

[@interfear1]

Was not expecting an association football video to start Search Party off. Now I need an English Premiership Rugby video regarding the downsizing of the league due to 3 teams losing funds.

[@newbiz8919]

NOT JUST THE ENGLISH ONE BUT RUGBY IN GENERAL, THE SPORT HAS BEEN STAGNATING OVER THE YEARS. THEY HAVE NO PLANS TO GROW THE SPORT TO HAVE MORE COUNTRIES IN THEIR WORLDCUP FOR INSTANCE

[@interfear1]

@@newbiz8919 That is very true. But I was thinking small before going big like that. Having the Rugby World Cup with only 20 teams is sad and then there is the subject of the World League starting in 2026 locking out the top 10 teams until 2030 from everyone else, pretty much killing international rugby for developing programs like Georgia, Uruguay, Chile, Romania and others.

[@Search-Party]

rugby's on the list 👀

[@tomva767]

Great work; I'm not a football fan, but this is very intresting! A little bit dissapointing that the Heizeldrama wasn't mentioned in the intro. I looking forward for the new vids.

[@davidjordan2336]

Another component that wasn't mentioned here is UEFA's Orwellianly-named Financial Fair Play system, which allows the big teams to spend as much money as they want while prohibiting smaller teams from making modest investments to improve themselves. The latest Champions League final featured Manchester City against Inter Milan, with the former having a payroll that was like a gazillion times that of the latter. But over the summer it was Inter who had to sell off half of their team to stay in the good graces of FFP. FFP paradoxically claims that Inter had an unfair advantage by having a payroll that was only one gazillionth of City's, rather that a two-gazillionth. This is insane. This is an even bigger positive feedback loop than the winners getting more attention. What European football needs is the opposite, namely a salary cap system like they have in American sports. This would disperse the top players and make everything more competitive. Reinstating the traditional foreign player restrictions would also help a lot.

[@jmpompey1]

Part of this is an issue with Serie A not UEFA, the PL splits the TV revenue relatively equally so last season the PL winner gets $210m in PL tv revenue and the team in 20th place gets $159m which works out bottom place getting 25% than the winner. in Serie a the winner gets $95m and 20th place in the league gets $32m which is 70% less tv revenue. In terms of payroll, the top 3 teams by payroll last season were PSG, Real Madrid and Barcelona the PL teams have never paid salaries anywhere near the levels that have been done in Spain or France Ronaldo was the highest paid PL star in history is Ronaldo on £500k per week and that was less than half his Madrid salary, which was less than half what Barca were paying Messi...

[@DarthQueefious]

If you're going to talk about completely changing the way a far more successful sport operates you should at least familiarise yourself with some basic facts. In the latest accounts, Inter Milan's wage bill was £214m (11th highest in europe) whilst City's was £353m (6th highest). There's a gap but not quite "gazillions". Considering Inter play in a much smaller league there's no wonder they're in FFP trouble.

[@One.Zero.One101]

FFP is fine if they actually implemented it, the problem is they don't. There's no way Man City has more income than global brands like Real Madrid, Man United, Liverpool, therefore it should be impossible to spend more than those clubs. The problem is Man City fudges their books to make it appear they have more income when in reality that money is injection from United Arab Emirates.

[@sparkz2337]

@@DarthQueefious its insane the gap from top league to 3rd ranked league is so high, my team Porto play in the 7th ranked league and get 1/10th if we are champions than what a 20th place premier league team gets, its insane the amount of money that the epl has

[@raymond7451]

The EPL definitely needs a cap restriction . I have to say its funny hearing the Italians and Spanish giants complaining . Was great when AC , Real and Barca ruled by the checkbook in the 90s ,00s .

[@Alihutchison]

I’d just like to say on behalf of everyone how much this video is appreciated. The amount of editing and research that went into this must have taken a long time. It deserves 10x the amount of views and it reminds me of something I would see on Netflix or tv. Great work!

[@duran9664]

State-owned/subsidized clubs, like City & Newcastle, r like Chinese-state-owned/subsidized companies who rigged the market against domestic producers for long🤏British politicians MUST intervene to put limit on this madness😒

[@jonhallanvenezuela687]

Very informative indeed. I'm from the Philippines and I now have a far better understanding of how European Football works with this video . God speed to the whole team😊

[@NotSoFakeTaxi]

wow, great video fella. it cannot be understate how important the revenue split for broadcasting rights.

[@aye3678]

As someone who loves watching football, mainly premier league and La Liga football, this video exceeded expectations. Nicely done, guys!

[@gudmundursteinar]

Some bits may have been missed. 1. It's in English and if you speak two languages one of them is English. So all the best commentators speak it and the managers and players speak it too. It's easy for people in America, China, India and Europe to get into. 2. It plays a popular kind of football. Compared to the other large league in europe English football is agressive and physical, compared to defensive and phsysical in germany, defensive and technical in italy and offensiv and technical in spain .This is the easiest kind of fooball to get into. 3. The Taylor report after those tragedies mandated that english teams rebuild their stadiums, effectively gentrifying them and making them attractive places for middle class families opening that market up early and, it make the dense english square stadium the norm, while simply works much better on tv than do bowl stadiums or stadiums with running tracks. 4. With the advent of cable tv and streaming it has become easier and simpler for people to buy access to football on tv all over the world. 5. The flatter money distribution makes games against the teams in the lower half of the table still be dangerous for the big teams. This makes english football easy to access for outsiders and semi-enthusiastic fans and this makes the sport itself easier to sell. This means that english football had an early advantage in money which they capitalized on to build the better prospect. Right now if you want to think of yourself as a big club you need to be in the Premier League or the Champions League or you don't have enough cash to keep the good players you develop yourself, much less buy good players on other teams.

[@reaganabroad4952]

The English speaking aspect makes a whole lot of sense.

[@reaganabroad4952]

They could add luxury taxes to transfers and give that to struggling leagues.

[@TheStubertos]

I would say point number 4 holds 90% of the weight in this arguement. It still baffles me how competitive the PL is compared to other leagues. On any given day a giant like Man City can be beaten by a lower league team

[@porcupineinapettingzoo]

I don't think English has much to do with anything, if you're in China you are watching in Chinese but you are watching a full stadium for Fulham vs Westham while a half empty stadium for Getafe vs Rayo Vulcano, by prioritizing the big teams Italy and Spain destroyed their leagues.

[@mokkaveli]

One point - German football isn't defensively focused, its all about counter attacks. We all know how famous German football is for gegenpressing, stupidly high lines and quick counter attacking play

[@yomanakaabhishek]

One thing that can be pointed out here is that when it comes to other Leagues (apart from EPL), they don't have too many English broadcasters (with a few exceptions). It's also the time zone difference that would matter here. Most of the EPL matches for me (India) happen around dinner time which is comfortable. La Liga, Ligue 1 matches happen late night (12 - 3 am). EPL also has better marketing and advertising in India compared to the other leagues. But this is a good video. Keep it up :)

[@eriklakeland3857]

Premier League time time differences are also pretty accessible for the east coast of the United States.

[@maropengrampyapedi938]

They are ultra nationalists who broadcast in their native languages,I'm not gonna get into French football and listen to french commentary,they have a long way to go before they compete

[@abelnicolaebaritone]

And still, La Liga has the two richest football clubs and most Champoions League Cups won in history. How is that possible? :D

[@ryandanngetich2524]

Yes but the EPL still overshadows it by far

[@wtfamIdoingwithmylife572]

Lmaoooo you think barça is as rich as any of the top 10 in the EPL Who's your dealer

[@DannyHsn]

Erm...OK doesn't change the facts in the video 💀

[@daleviker5884]

La Liga has most champs Leagues because La Liga is a farmer's league outside of two and a half teams, so the top two never have to worry about qualifying. They can spend their whole year focusing on the Champs League, because no one really cares who wins La Liga. Whereas the EPL clubs have a harder competition than the champs league just to qualify. Chelsea and Liverpool have both won the Champs League the last five years, but both missed qualifying for it last year. If Real and Barca ever have to fight to qualify, then their titles might mean something.

[@prans_bas]

​@@daleviker5884 ya like even nottingham forest and aston villa has won champions league bt havent won pl also its so fun and entertaining to watch pl than laliga laliga team doesnt even compete as they already know either barca or madrid gonna win so noone other club actually play good also pl has more fanbase like man united city arsenal chelsea spurs liverpool have more fanbase all over the world bt in laliga only barca and madrid have that fanbase even barca and real fan doesnt watch laliga except their team play 7 8 different pl team has won champions league while other only 1 or 2 team has won champions league from another league

[@TheInternetIsDeadToMe]

Beautiful infographic animations here guys. You’ve made understanding complex systems, like the flow of money in European football, easier for my brain to comprehend. It would be great to see something like this show the flow of capital on a global scale. A sort of money map of the globe. Keep up the fantastic work.

[@caleb.z]

I'm an American who rarely watches soccer (football), yet this video had me completely interested from start to finish. Nice work!

[@leonardomazzoni1824]

Great first video! I'd really like if you could also make a video about how the Saudi Arabian money are deeply influencing European football (from a cultural/ ethical point of view too)! This is a recently new but quite discussed topic that I think many people would be interested in

[@Search-Party]

🫡 great idea

[@slimcourage901]

Why limit it to just Saudi Arabia? Qatar and the UAE are having the same kinds of influences in Europe and beyond, such as of course the most recent World Cup. If you want to narrow in on Saudi Arabia, their recent smash and grab on American golf would be a good topic.

[@leonardomazzoni1824]

@slimcourage901 In this football transfer window a lot of players (some still not too old) are going to the Saudi League, which is offering a tremendous amount of money to both clubs and players, like never before. They are prepared to offer 1 billion to Mbappe for just 2 years. All these clubs which are buying are owned by the State Fund (PIF), so is even more a particular scenario. Yeah in the past were already some players going to Qatar and other countries but they were all finished players

[@slimcourage901]

@@leonardomazzoni1824 My mistake, I thought you were referring to investments in clubs and stadiums in Europe, not their own super league development, which I haven't heard too much about (not a big follower of the sport). Between this and LIV Golf, looks like a pattern's emerging!

[@bigbadslimee]

The fact this is your first video is insane, this a million subscriber level quality video

[@Orcha101]

That was an incredibly fascinating and well done video. I'm definitely subscribed and here to stay. I love the mingling of geopolitics with sports especially, and I think it made it incredibly easy to follow and understand for people who aren't already sports fans. I would love to see more videos in the same vein as this one, especially touching on FIFA's domination and institutional corruption.

[@josh999x]

Following this up with a deep dive into what's going on with the Saudi Pro League, especially with the offer they've made for Mbappe, seems like a great second video idea if you want to stick with football. Keep up the good work with this new venture Sam. Subscribed.

[@joaolucasgonca]

Sam really amazing content. I would like to see more unusual and out of mainstream sports, and also specific stories and events that happened related to sports, like some opics below: 1. PBR - Bull Riding (How big is and what is the performance behind these high perform athletes) 2. Olympics during War Time (How political decision are exposed and battled inside sports) 3. The historical relation between sports popularity and its talent, does talent really exist or is caused by the environment?

[@Jimak1954]

I look at Premier league results, mainly Spurs but i follow my hometown club Havant & Waterlooville. In an FA Cup game in 2008, we led Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield. We play in the Conference South, fantastic day. 👍🏻

[@jameshall9654]

I may be jumping the gun and commenting this too early - but Germany and Spain only put measures in after some of their leading clubs nearly crashed out of existence be ause of reckless spending. For years Spanish teams held the world transfer records and actually still do

[@abdullahdhahir9670]

I love sports and I love good unbiased journalism. Really excited to see how this channel will grow. Video Idea: How nations use and control sports to better their political agenda?

[@mcallisterwill]

There's a couple of other changes in football that could have been included as part of this too. You mention the Champions League originally being a tournament where the champions of each country in Europe compete, however in nineties this was changed. Now the third best clubs in countries like England and Spain automatically qualify whereas the champions of countries like Romania must enter a preliminary qualifying tournament where they will compete against champions of other smaller nations and the fourth best clubs in nations like England and Spain. Nowadays it's rare you'd even see a Romanian or Hungarian team in the Champions League. Secondly in England in the 2010's the authorities introduced what they call the Elite Player Performance Plan. The idea of this was to channel more promising youngsters into the academies of the top teams. Ostensibly this was to make the national team more competitive, suggesting that smaller clubs were keeping young players from realising their potential. It makes it easier and cheaper for the big clubs to poach the best young players from everyone else and has led to a number of smaller clubs closing down their academies as they're too expensive to run when they can't do anything to prevent their best assets being hoovered up by big clubs for negligible transfer fees. There are a number of smaller clubs who had made it their business model to invest in the academy and bring through talented players who they could then sell on and earn money to invest into the senior squad or back into the youth system. They can't afford to do this any more and are stuck with well developed academies that are expensive to run and no longer profitable. It has also led to the big clubs' academies becoming overcrowded and players who haven't burst onto the professional scene by 17 or 18 risk just disappearing into obscurity, playing in non-competitive youth tournaments until they're eventually released at 23 or 24 years old lacking experience of competitive football and struggling to adapt well enough to forge a career at smaller clubs (not to mention having excessive wage demands because the big clubs were paying them way more than smaller clubs can afford to pay even their best players).

[@user-ed7et3pb4o]

The academy problem is real.

[@Geokinkladze]

The English Academy system was created by Howard Wilkinson and is based on the French model.

[@keano2921]

The 4th place team in the EPL automatically goes to the Group Stage of the UCL, 5th automatically to the Group Stage of the UEL, and 6th automatically to the Group Stage of the UECL.

[@mickmickymick6927]

You're exageratting it a bit. They have an advantage, and if unchecked it will get worse but PsG are also owned by sheikhs and spend huge money. Madrid have long had a history of crazy spending on high earning players. Also non-English clubs are still very competitive in the Champions League, often beating their English rivals. The problem of course is that it's a free for all. If people want a more evenly divided sport, they'll have to start looking at American systems of maintaining parity, rather than the free for all it is now.

[@moondog4598]

Great video. It is like this now in American College Football where there are two conferences with huge TV contracts dominating the sport.

[@philiprice7875]

love how college sports pull in fans to fill a 50,000 stadium in the USA here in Europe college sports can fill in a 50 seater bus

[@DarylSpykerman]

I'm from Singapore & have been supporting Tottenham since 1994. Love how you cover this topic. Indeed, the EPL is the Super League, for better or worse. Hope to see more of such videos!

[@jesterbeats2898]

U poor bastard

[@Zhou_Yu]

For worse, they don't have identity anymore just a business company with a old logo that nobody cares anymore

[@DarylSpykerman]

@@Zhou_Yu The Premier League is the Super League

[@Zhou_Yu]

@@DarylSpykerman is a business league not a football lague anymore

[@DarylSpykerman]

@@Zhou_Yu yup, the business of football

[@TeaRizz]

I would love for you to cover how the Australian a-league tried a similar revamp that premier league did and on the eyes of most fans have failed. We still have had riots and hoolinganism as recent as this year with mass protests and pitch invasions

[@nicegan8902]

@@Aquafyre A few months ago. One of the players got attacked. It was all over the news for days.

[@cosmosisrose]

@@Aquafyreit’s not a competition lol

[@connorconnor7536]

You should see the balkan hooligans or latin americans hooligans

[@Genevasplaytime]

Australia would be the best football nation in the world if not for cricket rugby and aussie rules and also hockey. Coming from and English man. Just look at them in the world cup they are solid

[@TabebuiaPosada]

Europe's favourite sport? It's THE WORLD'S favourite sport

[@fionduffield2049]

Good job to everyone at search party, excellent first video, as a fan of a club in England (Sheffield Wednesday) outside of the PL we recently fell fowl of over spending trying to get in, as an all round lover of football, seeing the success of the PL is both great and disappointing as it’s definitely having a departmental affect to the rest of Europe. Looking forward to what you do next

[@matthewmurray3324]

Loved this! As someone who follows ameatuer sport in Ireland I would love a video on the most popular amateur sports worldwide - how they are run, gameplay, challenges, etc.

[@alex-fh4bw]

Excellent video! Already I can't wait for the next one. This was a really coherent explanation of how English football is increasingly becoming putty in the hands of ultra-rich owners from abroad, and the trend that has created of pricing out other European clubs. As a Fulham fan this puts into words something I have long been aware of, and a video on the subject was just what I needed to watch!

[@heroicplayer]

You shouldn't have skipped Blackburn Rovers (1990s). It was misleading for you to start with Chelsea (2000s) as you saying that's your initial example when a wealthy owner bought success. Blackburn had a wealthy owner who broke the British transfer record, bought top players and In 1994-95, Rovers became Premier League champions.

[@hh8982]

would love to see a video on corruption within UK councils. ik this may seem like a small story, but its huge and no one talks about it. Jo negrini personally bankcrupted two councils, and racked up more than £1 billions of debt, while embezzeling about £1 mil for her own personal gain

[@Mr.Daverill]

What an amazing insight. I would love to see a story about how baseball has spread internationally, the up rise of popularity on island nations. Another topic to explore is would be one of the worlds longest played sports, Wrestling, Calcio Storico, or Mesoamerican ballgame. I love what you do and how you present the imagery.

[@rubikdude49]

Would be interesting to hear more on the story of the financial crisis a lot of smaller clubs are finding themselves. Have had multiple clubs nearly shut down as a result

[@Search-Party]

totally -- we could've done a whole separate video on what's happening to the lower tiers - england included.

[@Jay_Coop]

@@Search-Party I would love to see that video! I think especially with the rise of Wrexham's popularity there could be an audience for that topic.

[@grahamnewton4381]

The spending is undoubtedly out of control but it should be pointed out that in the past Italian clubs and Spanish clubs were outspending everyone else to buy the best players. Real and Barcelona in particular continually paid what at the time were huge amounts on obtaining the best players.

[@neilbiggs1353]

Look at how the Spanish TV money was distributed back in 2014 or so. Real and Barca each got about 10 times what each of the bottom 10 or 11 teams did. No wonder it was so easy for them domestically. Even now it's pretty unbalanced before the CL money makes it even worse

[@jeremycraig4641]

@clockworkman8210 Yes, I think we´ve all heard plenty of complaints about this. Be realistic.

[@Zhou_Yu]

​@clockworkman8210 do you know the difference between what is to get money from billionaires than because you generate the money? I thought even a monkey wouldn't need this to be pointed

[@soulnaH]

Love this new channel! Here's a video idea: How the Saudi Arabian League is reshaping football and what impact it will have on football in general.

[@youcantalwaysgetwhatyouwan6687]

Big 5 Football Leagues Clubs = they spend their club money to buy/sign players Saudi Pro League = they spend their public wealth funds to buy/sign players

[@James1-9-7-8]

In the Champions’ League this year, Serie A had three teams in quarters, two in semis and one in final (and it was close!). We could’ve had three in semis and an all-Italian final. That said, I can see how difficult it must be to compete with English clubs. What is more appalling is that you’d scarcely believe it possible wages could be any higher, but, as a mate said to me, the recent Saudi purge could force European teams to remove financial cap. To think that Premier League clubs were holding back financially…

[@Guttlegob]

What the video also failed to mention was this spending started in Italy before England. SERIE A accumulating the best players in the 90s.

[@Geokinkladze]

@@Guttlegob And when Real Madrid assemble their Galacticos for the nth time it isn't ruining football. Go figure.

[@hmu05366]

Yeh but looking at one year on its own is sufficient data. You need to look at the last 10-15 years and the English clubs get deeper into the tournament more than any other country.

[@hmu05366]

@@Guttlegobyeh but what we’re seeing now (teams like Bournemouth etc spending £40million on players has never happened before). In Italy in the 90’s it was the top clubs that spent big

[@hmu05366]

@@Geokinkladzeyeh but in Spain it’s only a couple of clubs. In England it’s the entire division that is causing this massive inflation.

[@lokeshbadam1480]

As an Indian without any knowledge on European football, I learnt a lot and the explanation was top notch.

[@WJeezus]

Nah it was very surface level

[@jayaswati1505]

@@WJeezus as an Indian where we are obsessed over cricket and yet struggling to be in 100 ranking of FIFA any content explaining about football of any continent is essential.. I don't care it is surface level or what.. This channel is new lets hope we will get to know more about football and other stuff...

[@EatMyShortsAU]

Maybe one day the IPL will be like the EPL, so could be a good lesson.

[@pbcash7788]

Do you watch cricket or just not prefer sports? I’m Indian as well and most of my family are huge fans of European football (mainly Man United)

[@WJeezus]

@@pbcash7788 if you're indian and want to support a team, id always say leicester. It has the highest indian population of like 10%, and a majority of people are brown

[@noisyshaun]

This was excellent, the only nit-pick thing I'd say is the part at 4:50 almost suggests the Emirates was built when it became the Premier League. It wasn't until 2006, so would have been better to use an earlier example. But still excellent video.

[@lajohnson1ly]

US fan, brought up on baseball/football [sic]/basketball, whose view of "soccer" might have been encapsulated by the ESPN TV office series ad where someone bumps a commentator who goes down clutching his knee. I decided last year to learn enough to understand what I saw on TV. Read about the game's history, formations & tactics, teams, coaches, and players. Followed EPL and to lesser extent other European leagues. My appreciation grows and deepens (though I still don't understand all aspects of the offside rules). Was applying myself to learning about MLS, now much easier now because, you know, Messi. This absorbing video organized & summarized much of what I've learned a bit at a time in 18 months. I want part 2, and previous comments provide great ideas for you to investigate and present. I'll subscribe and look forward to more.

[@maxcarlsson8334]

As a fan of the Premier League this is by far the most depressing part of our game.

[@90sdani]

That's some top quality content right there! Congratulations on the debut @Search-Party ! Huge fan and supporter

[@NazriB]

Lies again? Chelsea Samsung Come Singapore

[@nickganguly07]

I would love to see a similar in-depth subject matter video regarding Cricket and the IPL if possible.

[@eithan_]

always great to see new concepts brought to youtube

[@giuliabonadraws]

I love that I don't follow football, I don't care about football, and still I watched this video till the end and I'm glad I did! Everything can be interesting if taught well, and you are a group of amazing journalists and storytellers. I already follow Johnny Harris, and now I'm here too: I'll always watch whatever you'll throw at me! ❤

[@Jarhead2318]

Nice first episode. If you are looking for another topic, I would love to see an analysis on athletes vs. owners when it comes to pay disparity. We often malign the athletes when they make hefty paychecks, but never say anything about the exploitation tactics used by the owners. I want athletes to get every dollar they can, but I realize I'm in the minority.

[@IddoKeren-yo3tm]

The combination of interviews and illustrations is just amazing! Spectacular!

[@zoltanm8278]

A comparison can be made with the Australian Football League, which has a strict salary cap and a draft (similar to the NBA), ensuring the weakest teams have 1st picks for the best young talent. It has been shown to work, as the league is more competitive than ever and viewership is the highest for any domestic sports league per capita. Possible video idea?

[@56Circular]

Relegation system is more entertaining

[@mkyhou1160]

Basically the NA sports system. Hockey and NFL have caps and drafts. You can’t buy a cup, and it’s very hard for a team to keep winning year after year. Much better system, albeit most players only make a few million a year, the superstars a bit more.

[@zoltanm8278]

@@56Circular Finals is more entertaining than just having a home & away season

[@J_ZD]

Im from Australia and follow AFL, it has probably been the most competitive season weve seen in years. Anyone can get to the top with smart management and good recruitment For context I support the equal most successful club in the league. The last 2 decades have been by far the worst in history due to terrible decision making.

[@bettytigers]

39 people died at the Heysel stadium in Brussels Belgium. Only one English club was involved Liverpool. The Hillsborough disaster was partly caused by fences that were put up to stop fighting and pitch invasions,as well as police mistakes and a rush to get in the ground at the Leppings lane end (not to miss the match). Many Liverpool fans did their best to rescue people that day, as the emergency services weren't deployed as well as they could have been.

[@nicolaskim6606]

Great video! As a Brazilian, i'd love to watch a simillar analysis on the dominance of european clubs over south american clubs. The Club World Cup is a huge thing for us here, and in Brazil there has been this overwhelming sentiment that we might never see a Brazilian/South american club being world champion ever again. Ironically, these rich european clubs only crush us because of the talented players they import from here!

[@utgabek9059]

I’d love to see a deep dive into all of the recent structural changes in American college athletics. I know a lot about the affects of the transfer portal and NIL(Name Image and Likeness) opportunities with football, but I’d like to hear how it’s more broadly affecting college athletics and how the NCAA is failing to handle all of the recent changes. Love this new channel, great work to everyone making it possible!

[@chelseachelseafcsuperfan7220]

It sounds like you already know what’s going on so why are you asking him to make a video lol

[@Noone01112]

An in depth video on t20 cricket, ipl and how it impacted cricket on the whole would be great. Also cricket among others is a topic that would draw in a huge audience from India. Good luck with the channel, also I'm loving it already. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the next one.

[@barliechoy]

I remember as a kid in England, we all used to worry about the influx of foreign players and there will be no good English players. I remember the best players starting to earn £100k per week and being in shock. I was raised watching Man Utd, so I can't help but be a fan. I grew up in a town that has a team that sometimes gets to the Premier League, although Man Utd are my main club, watching a football club competing at the lower professional levels is really special. Watching my home town team get into the premiership was at least as exciting as Man Utd winning the Champions League. I wonder what levels of money we will be talking about in 20+ years.

[@Darrenski]

You mean you're from wigan

[@Darrenski]

Remember Martin Offiah?

[@omfgbbqitsfngbeto]

@Search-Party loved this episode! Episode suggestion would be a look into the rise of US soccer and the crashing of Mexico soccer over the past decades. There are a lot of interesting things that happen within the Mexican Soccer Federation.

[@ferrjuan]

Can u do a video on how Bayern Munich dominates the Bundesliga? How the Saudis have poured so much money into sports like golf. Or how China’s plan to dominate world football has largely failed after spending so much money buying players from European clubs and building football stadiums. I would love to see a video on any of those topics congrats on your new channel!

[@TuscanSota]

Loved this episode. I would love to see one done on college football in the United States. I think what you may find is a similar story there as the one told here.

[@sotakoira1390]

I'm not a football fan really, but an ice hockey fan. I can totally see how premier is so successful. What many people want to see is a super league, best players taking on best players. In ice hockey that is NHL and the appeal in that made me totally uninterested in local league and team, even thou it's relatively high quality. Premier managed to surface as the number one league and that success lures in more fans as that is the league to watch. I think Germany, Italy, Spain and France also kinda failed to make competitive leagues. Spain is just Barcelona and Madrid, Germany is Munich (yes they lost this year), France is PSG and Italy at least used to have 3 with Juventus and Milan teams. Premier feels (felt) different, even while that might not be true.

[@Haobey]

Great work, however I feel like some key recent chapters are missing from the story I.e. Newcastle’s new ownership and Saudi Arabia’s goals to replicate what the premier league has done.

[@Alexm0321]

The thing about Newcastle is irrelevant, they have to abide by ffp now where as Chelsea and city didn’t when’s they were taken over

[@jm-np4mu]

​​@@Alexm0321True, but look at the progress they've already made since the Saudi takeover.. From 2nd bottom of the PL to Champions League qualification in a season and a half

[@Alexm0321]

@@jm-np4mu that’s not because of a Saudi spending spree though, that’s money Newcastle had before the takeover after the lack of spending under Ashley and the great management of Howe, they had the best defence in the league with a back line cheaper than Maguire and a GK they bought from Burnley

[@1ajw23]

American Crystal Palace fan here.. this is great work but also depressing for my clubs outlook lol Would love to see a story done on Formula 1, the LIV/PGA merger and how the NFL became the mammoth it is now! great work!

[@slslskspslba2407]

watch local

[@arsaraza]

An American take on a European sport is so refreshing and exciting

[@excelucate]

Great overview puts things into perspective. In addition to which we have: The Europa League (UEFA Cup) The perils of foreign ownership (growing list of clubs in the lower tiers it has not worked out for) The monetary impacts of relegated EPL teams

[@frednerk3477]

Perhaps a follow up om how 2 teams (Rangers and Celtic) have have sucked up the income and destroyed Scottish football?

[@ianrod1969]

Great video. Though you glossed over a very interesting part. Around the time the English Premier League was forming, Rupert Murdoch was launching the Sky TV satellite service in the UK and Europe (Which previously didn't have much in the way of cable provision, subscription nor pay per view, unlike the USA). Initially Sky focused on movies and music, and pretty much as an afterthought did the deal with the EPL. Murdoch himself remained unconvinced. The runaway success of Sky Sports with live subscription based games and other sports based on the English football model changed the landscape for how sport was broadcast in Europe & pretty much made Murdoch the global media tycoon he became, as well as paving the way for the massive increase in revenues, which lead to the internationalization, of the coverage both for football and many other European sports like cricket and F1.

[@bensmith7971]

The point made at 5:10 about money being split relatively evenly between clubs is why the Premier League is richer than any other league. They operate under a 2:1 rule, meaning the club that wins the league gets double the money of the team that finishes last (20th) - this distribution means there is more competition, which draws more interest, which brings in more money, which can be used to reinvest in infrastructure & buy better players, so the quality increases, and so on. In other leagues - like La Liga in Spain - clubs can negotiate their broadcast deals individually, which means the larger clubs are operating in another world to the smaller clubs in the same league. Barcelona and Real Madrid bring in around £160m a year in broadcast revenue (which is the same as the top English clubs) and Atletico Madrid earn around £130m (enough to place them 10th in the Prem) but after that the remaining 17 (SEVENTEEN) top flight Spanish teams earn less in TV revenue than ANY of the Premier League teams - Norwich got 90m after getting relegated in 2021/2022, but 4th placed Sevilla got 87m. Simply put, the selfish nature of the big teams is holding back other top leagues from being able to compete with the Prem.

[@Wladislav]

While that has definitely been a factor, it is *not* why the EPL is richer than any other league. The reason it is richer than any other league, is the bit that comes after it at 7:07 Never let anyone lie to you and say the more even split is the main reason.

[@user-ed7et3pb4o]

@@Wladislavyou’re way off. English clubs have FFP now. They’re richer than most European clubs because they get more money, they get more money because they get more broadcasting revenues, they get more revenues because the revenues are distributed fairly and the competition is always intense which makes it the most watchable league. The money came before the big investors, and the investors wouldn’t be there without the promise of money (which always comes from FANS first and foremost, domestic fans especially). Other leagues have no right to complain about anything when the main reason they’re suffering is the greed of their big clubs and lack of interest in true competition. And it’s not like those same big European clubs haven’t had TONS of dodgy investments from dodgy owners and a string of terrible financial decisions before FFP was introduced. When they were owned by the literal dictators of their country, or by corrupt sleazeballs like Berlusconi, and when clubs like Madrid STILL hold some of the biggest transfer records, complaints about the PL are just hypocritical. Fix your own league first and protect your smaller teams before crying because clubs that come 7th in the EPL aren’t so disadvantaged in their own league that they’ll just bend over and allow you to dominate them the way you dominate your own.

[@AndyNUFC1986]

An amazingly brilliant detailed summary of the history of the past 30 years of English Premier League football! It's insane the monster they've created & what it's evolved into like the revenue for last year is: (£5.5bn) & I'm sure the new TV deal for this year's gone past 6! With the PIF buying us NUFC & the Saudi money in football who also own 4 of the clubs in their league & are offering astronomical amounts for anyone who will go. It's only getting more & more bezerk! I like most football fans am all for it obviously, as the football is just amazing quality in a good 90% of the games per season. But there has to be a ceiling & something has to change for the rest of Europe especially! La Liga for 1 need to distribute their TV deals more fairly & they all need to get their acts together before we sail away in to.the distance leaving most of the others behind in our wake. It needs to be more than a 1 horse race...

[@HalfdanMCMX]

I honestly can't stand when Americans talk football but this video is brilliant and very well-made. One important fact that you kind of touched on but kind of missed in the video was the extremely important fact that the "Champions" League stopped being a cup for CHAMPIONS in 1997/98 in order cater to the big teams in the big leagues in Europe. Before 97/98, only Champions of each national top tier league could enter the competition. That the top 8 ranked leagues got to have two of their top teams participate. Already in 1994/95 they started cracking down on smaller countries and the top 8 ranked Leagues got their Champions to go automatically into the group stage while the other top 16 had to qualify. Historically the qualifications were a large part of the tournament because everyone got to do it. The group stage was only two groups. Not long before that there was no group stage at all. After 98 it started going downhill quickly and the large countries got to have more and more clubs to participate without ever winning anything. Another historic and important fact is the "Bosman ruling" in 1995 which made it easier for players to up and leave their local clubs and go to bigger leagues that could pay higher wages. If their contract had run out, the new club didn't have to pay anything at all. This changed EVERYTHING.

[@RichCwm]

A key thing was missing, Italy started it (spending crazy), Spain then took it to next level 100M+ spending, England is just finishing it.

[@Induna123]

Plus English clubs were banned from Europe for 5 years because of the Heysel disaster in 1985 and it took them 10 years before they became competitive in Europe again because Italian teams were so dominant like the English clubs are now.

[@madhavparikh7197]

This was freaking amazing! I got to see a whole different side of Football and how it pivots the situation of financial, economic and social situations in countries.. Rock on guys!!

[@alimetodista3459]

Yeh that league isn't English anymore and is no longer for the working class fan either, it's the super League owned by elitists (many foreign) that they embarrassingly were against, when it was their league that was that all along. If you want an organic league that doesn't get money pumped in to it like a cheat code on a football manager game and is still grass roots and British, it's the Scottish premiership. England still has league 1 and 2, the fans will lose their championship soon too.

[@zarovich9397]

@@alimetodista3459 "grassroots" scottish premiership where Celtic and Rangers have higher wage spend than the rest of the league combined, very competitive football!

[@MrCashMoneyD18]

Great video! Johnny said to comment video ideas so here I go! Idea: It would be fantastic to see a video putting a spotlight onto the incredible pay gap between the NBA and WNBA. It could even show why Brittney Griner was even in Russia to be held captive.

[@cuju-virtuose]

Wnba is just less entertaining and because of that makes no money. So the female player cant get paid the same. In fact the nba makes losses every year to maintain the wnba. So there is not really a vid needed its nothing complex. 😂😂

[@goingagainstthegrain]

Thank you!

[@SputnikCrisis]

And before people jump in here who don't understand this problem but insist on blabbering anyways: we all know the NBA is more popular and makes billions more, that's not the issue. The issue is that in the NBA, players make 50% of all revenue, in the WNBA it's not even close to that. As a matter of fact, the NBA is a good revenue sharing model for all industries, not just sports. At least half of the revenue made should go towards the workers who are, you know, doing the actual work.

[@cuju-virtuose]

@@SputnikCrisis wnba does not make any revenue. Famale players are paid off of the profit of the nba.

[@SputnikCrisis]

@@cuju-virtuose you do not know the definition of revenue lol

[@samuelmuller2290]

The bigger problem is that financial breaches are not being prosecuted against the „money clubs“. ManCity would never have anything happen even though they have clearly not been following the financial requirements. The corruption of the organizations in football is even more disgusting than any of that.

[@duran9664]

State-owned/subsidized clubs, like City & Newcastle, r like Chinese-state-owned/subsidized companies who rigged the market against domestic producers for long🤏British politicians MUST intervene to put limit on this madness😒

[@duran9664]

EPL & FA have failed to regulate themselves🤏 Politicians must intervene 😡Voters should vote for politicians who promise true & fair change 🤏

[@DinduDaniels]

Go and cry about it 🥺

[@adamthj]

Cry more