The Week India - July 29, 2018

54 THE WEEK • JULY 29, 2018

FIFA WORLD CUP

RUSSIA 2018

the quarterfi nals—France, Belgium,

England, Brazil and Uruguay—pro-

vided great examples of multicul-

turalism. Th e amalgamation of

various cultures under one banner

is nothing new in football. In Brazil

and Uruguay, the vibrancy of the

immigrant cultures has been visible

for centuries.

Croatian midfi elder Ivan Rakitic

was born in Switzerland and learnt

his trade in the Swiss youth system.

His teammate, midfi elder Mateo

Kovacic, is a product of the Austrian

football system. Even the Russian

team had a ‘foreigner’—Brazilian

right-back Mario Fernandes, who

scored in extra-time against Croa-

tia in the quarterfi nals. Fernandes

had made his debut for Brazil in a

Th at night, as the country cele-

brated, nationalism touched the sky

and glasses were raised in honour

of the victorious heroes—many of

whom were not ‘ethnically French’.

Defender Lilian Th uram, who scored

two goals in the semifi nal (his only

goals for France) was born in the

French Antilles. Striker Th ierry Henry

was also of Antillean parentage.

Defender Marcel Desailly (Ghana),

and midfi elders Christian Karembeu

(New Caledonia), Youri Djorkaeff

(Polish-American parentage) and

Patrick Viera (Senegal) were also key

members of the squad. It was truly

a victory of multiculturalism, with

Zidane as its face.

In this edition of the World Cup,

fi ve of the eight teams that played

NEW BREED

Raheem Sterling

(centre) was one

of 11 players of

an immigrant

background in

England’s squad

for Russia 2018

REUTERS

Club class

Eusebio was just 18 when he

moved from his native Mozambique

(then Portuguese Mozambique) to

Portugal in 1960. Six years later,

he won the Golden Boot award as

Portugal fi nished third in their World

Cup debut.

Though the cosmopolitan outlook

of European football aided the com-

ing together of various ethnicities in

their teams, the process gathered

momentum because of immigration.

In 1899, when FC Barcelona

was founded, it had players from

diff erent parts of Europe. But in the

1920s, the club got involved in Cat-

alonian politics and projected itself

as a symbol of Catalonian national-

ity. The players could be foreigners

as long as they embraced the Cat-

alonian culture. But Catalonian cul-

ture has changed much in the past

century. In fact, the ballot papers

for the 2017 Catalonian referendum

featured multiple languages.

Many clubs that came to exis-

tence in Britain towards the end

of the 19th century were strictly

British. The situation changed in two

decades. Italian and Swiss players

arrived. The situation was similar in

Italian club Bari, which was founded

in 1908.

In modern football, money has

been the deciding factor in two

ways—players from poor countries

can earn more by playing in Europe

and the European teams have the

money power to pay more. A major

reason for the money fl owing into

the European leagues has been

broadcasting rights. The amount

that the English Premier League

received from broadcasters in-

creased by 70 per cent in the three

years since 2012. In the league’s

fi rst season, 1992-93, after the 22

clubs involved broke away from

The Football League, the number

of foreign players was less than 15.

Within a decade, foreigners made

up a majority of most teams.