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Welcome to issue #081 of Contemporary Football, your inside look at how the game really works behind the scenes.
Monday to Friday, you’ll uncover a new perspective on football business, and sometimes a deeper story that sharpens your thinking and gives you an edge in the beautiful game.
If you need support on your football journey, just write me.
For years, the logic has been simple.
More TV money → better players → better results.
So let’s look at the numbers.
Premier League TV cycle: €1.91bn per year
La Liga: €990m per year
Almost double.
But in the last games where an English team met a Spanish team in the European cups, this was the result:
20–9 aggregate.
Three Spanish clubs through.
Two English.
If money was the system, this shouldn’t happen.
Most people will explain this with form.
Or luck.
Or “knockout football is different.”
This is not about a few games.
It’s about how two systems are built.
England built a market
The Premier League optimised for:
distribution
competition
uncertainty
Everyone gets paid.
Everyone can compete.
The league is the product.
Spain built machines
La Liga made a different choice.
Less distribution.
More concentration.
Not ten strong clubs.
Two or three that operate at maximum level.
Every year.
Under pressure.
I wouldn’t call it a weakness.
It’s a design.
In Europe
European competitions don’t reward balance.
They reward repetition at the highest level.
Look at what actually happened.
Real Madrid beats Manchester City 5–1.
Not because they have more money.
Because they know exactly how to win this tie.
Barcelona absorbs pressure… then finishes the job 8–3.
Atlético doesn’t dominate.
They control the game state.
They go through.
Different styles.
Same pattern.
These clubs are not just good.
They are trained for this environment.
Who’s winning?
In the last 12 Champions, we have 7 Spanish winners and 3 English.
Plus Bayern and PSG.
The Premier League is the best league in the world.
But it may not be designed to win Europe as much as LaLiga teams.
Too much internal competition.
Too much variance.
Great for the product.
Less optimal for building dominant teams.
Spain made the opposite trade.
Weaker middle.
Stronger peak.
And in knockout football, peak wins.
What TV money actually does
TV rights are not performance.
They are fuel.
England spreads the fuel.
Spain concentrates it.
Same resource.
Different outcome.
Revenue does not decide who wins.
Structure decides what revenue becomes.
Agree?
If you distribute it, you get competition.
If you concentrate it, you get dominance.
Both are rational.
But they lead to different results.
So what does this actually mean?
There are two ways to build in football.
You can build a league where everyone competes.
Or you can build clubs that win.
England chose the first.
Spain chose the second.
That’s the trade-off.
More competition makes the league stronger.
More concentration makes the top clubs stronger.
Europe doesn’t reward leagues.
It rewards clubs.
That’s why €1.9bn didn’t beat €990m.
And that’s the reason behind 20–9.
Thanks for your emails!
Always thoughtful and worth reading.
Federico
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