Bayern, City & PSG all champions again: is football losing its soul in era of 'super clubs'?
Fairytales are few and far between in the modern game as the same sides dominate year in, year out...
Meet the new champions. Same as the old champions. Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain wrapped up their respective titles in the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 at the weekend, with Manchester City crowned seven days earlier in the Premier League. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Bayern’s Bundesliga title was their 11th in a row. And although the Bavarians won it this time after Borussia Dortmund fluffed their lines on the final day, the outcome was the same as it has been for so long. There was almost an air of inevitability about it. In a chaotic campaign which saw a coaching change in late March, in-fighting at boardroom level and new boss Thomas Tuchel complaining that the squad was exhausted and not fit enough, they somehow still won it. How? It came down to one goal in the end. But an annual revenue of €653.6 million, almost €300m more than BVB, will certainly have helped.
In France, PSG have not even been very good. The Parisians have lost six games in Ligue 1, were knocked out of the Coupe de France by Marseille and bowed out with a whimper in the Champions League following a 3-0 aggregate defeat to Bayern. There has been tension between the coach and the sporting director, fresh reports of player power and bickering over who should take the penalties, plus a boycott from the ultras and boos from those fans for some of the star players – including Lionel Messi. Yet they sealed the title with one round left to play. Given that their budget for 2022-23 is at least three times more than rivals Marseille, Monaco and Lyon, it should hardly be too surprising.
Manchester City won theirs a week earlier. After defeat to Tottenham in February, the Sky Blues dropped just two points from their next 15 games in a remarkable run which saw them overtake Arsenal and wrap up a fifth title in six seasons. All of those have come with Pep Guardiola as manager. The Catalan now has five from seven at City. In his first season, Leicester City were the champions. This season, the Foxes were relegated. Don’t expect another fairytale – if it can be called that, Leicester’s owner is a billionaire too, after all – like that any time soon.
There are still some good stories, though. Luton Town’s promotion to the Premier League after rising through the divisions from England’s fifth tier a decade ago is one of those. Brighton and Hove Albion’s qualification for Europe for the first time in their history is another. Bournemouth staying up. West Ham reaching a European final. And outside England, there are many more: Napoli’s Scudetto success after a 33-year-wait and the resurgence of Italian clubs in Europe; Feyenoord’s title triumph in the Netherlands; AEK Athens winning again in Greece; Real Sociedad’s qualification for the Champions League in Spain; and even Barcelona’s renaissance in LaLiga, although that competition is largely won by either Real Madrid or the Catalan club.
Spain seems more competitive than it is because there are two teams that can win it, plus Atlético Madrid, occasionally upsetting the status quo. In Italy, there have been four different champions in as many seasons and that is healthy for Serie A, yet it has come about in part because of the decline of Juventus – both on and off the pitch. Prior to those four seasons, Juve won nine titles in a row.
This is the age of the ‘super clubs’ and the gap is widening all the time – more than ever before in the history of the game. City, taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, have topped Deloitte’s annual rich list for the past two years. The Manchester club may not have spent more than others on transfers in recent years, but they have invested heavily on players, wages and infrastructure for more than a decade now. Also on Guardiola, the world’s best coach. Does it matter that they are accused of 115 breaches of the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules? It should.
While City are majority owned by UAE, Paris Saint-Germain are backed by Qatar. The two clubs have been criticised and accused of sportswashing by human rights organisations, but both have enjoyed plenty of success under their controversial owners. Seven of City’s nine league titles have come in the last 11 years, while the previous two were won in 1937 and 1968. And since the takeover of Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, PSG have topped Ligue 1 nine times. Prior to the arrival of QSI, they had two titles in 41 years.
PSG’s financial might has not yet brought success in Europe. City’s neither, although that could change this term as the Premier League champions seek a treble, with the FA Cup final against Manchester United next weekend and a Champions League showpiece versus Inter the following Saturday. They are big favourites to win both.
Manchester United were the first club from Europe’s top five leagues to win a treble. That was in 1999. But since then, it has been done twice by Barcelona and Bayern Munich and once by Inter. Real Madrid have not won a treble, but have claimed five Champions Leagues in the past nine seasons. Even Los Blancos were blown away by City in the semi-finals this term, and that dominance seems set to continue.
Ahead of last season, City lost their all-time top goalscorer Sergio Agüero and didn’t replace him, yet they still won the Premier League. Much of that is down to Guardiola’s genius, of course. The Catalan has taken the competition to new levels and when he eventually leaves, City are unlikely to be quite as successful as they are now. However, it may be some time before that happens.
In the meantime, there are fewer surprises than ever. At the highest level, the sport is becoming all too predictable in the biggest leagues as the wealth gap grows to unprecedented levels and the ‘super clubs’ sweep everyone else aside. Is this the football we want?
Bayern Munich have won 32 of 60 Bundesliga titles. Man Utd won 13 of the first 20 Premier League titles. I don't remember this being a pertinent question at the time Utd were winning it every year. It seems there's no problem in our government selling arms to the middle east but all hell breaks loose when one of our clubs is bought by an Arabic investor. Hypocrisy of the highest order.