Blockchain Decentralization: The impact it can have on the future of professional footballers

6 min readJan 25, 2018

With an estimated 3.5 billion fans across the globe, association football is the most followed sport in the world. This has lead to football clubs like Manchester United, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid becoming incredible with both their sporting achievements and also by their ability to generate an enormous level of business turnovers and thus becoming ultra valuable. It is therefore no shock that most prepubescent young boys dream of becoming a footballer and with the way the sporting world has evolved, women’s football has progressed enough for young girls to have the same ambitions. Not many will achieve this fantasy of becoming a professional footballer and some receive such a small amount of support that when they don’t get the chance they deserve, they give up forever. If we were to decentralize the sport with blockchain technology, there would be a fundamental change for not just football but the whole of the sports industry.

The rollercoaster journey of any footballer is not set in stone. If we look at those fortunate to have obtained apprentice or youth contracts at a semi or professional football club we know that young athletes are individuals and each will mature differently and get to a certain level at their own pace. Privileged ones will have the support from the club that they are associated with but this can be dropped in an instance. It could be a horrendous injury, it could be that peers are peaking at a faster pace or it could be that the club themselves cannot afford to offer a professional contract.

What happens to these players when they are released?

The answer to this question is more than worrying. They could be in their early 20’s with very few qualifications and they will have nowhere to go. Their ambition was to play professional football but when a club releases them, they have to go their own way and fund their own future. They have to travel and arrange trials at other clubs, they have to keep their fitness levels a certain way, they have to fund their own lives without a salary. At this point, they are unemployed with no benefits.

This isn’t just the ‘few’ but the ‘many’ — the PFA (Players Football Association) estimate that each July 1st in the United Kingdom there are 700 players who are released from their professional clubs.

Imagine the amount more when you include the semi-professional and amateur clubs?

Imagine the amount more when you realise this is just the UK and not the whole world?

The facts are even more shocking, when a player enters football at the age of 16, 50% will not be still in the game by the time they are 18. The attrition rate jumps up to 75% when we see who is still in the game at 21. There are a lot of players who can end up with nowhere to go once they are released.

There is also a psychological element for these footballers. Being released is not just the end of future prospects of riches but also a psychological fear of being rejected. Despite economic issues and not being able to fund their future trials, these players have also lost their support. The support from their peers, the club and subsequently they lose belief in themselves. The complete support unit is diminished.

The billions of people who spend a huge amount of time and money within the following of the sport are not necessarily aware of the struggles that the players have to get to that stage. It does take a lot of hard work and diligence but at the same time the 1% who get to the top clubs in the Premier League, La Liga and the Bundesliga are supported by big men and agents who sometimes only care about their own financial gain.

People joke because of the failures of Cherno Samba and Freddy Adu — two players who had higher prominence on the computer game series Football Manager than they had in their actual careers. Circumstance has lead to the problems in these players careers. Injuries, Pressure, Lack of support, Underestimations on future earnings — If these players had the correct support when they were younger — they may have had similar careers to Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.

Many of the failures of footballers in the modern era seems to be linked to lack of financial resource and lack of individual support.

There is a solution in the form of decentralization through blockchain technology.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency are receiving a lot of press in the media currently and there is a strong belief that their abilities will completely revolutionize many industries. Despite being rarely mentioned, the Sports industry is another industry that can be derailed using this technology.

Globatalent is a platform that has entered the market with the aim of decentralizing football along with all other sports and with football it would have the opportunity to help clubs and athletes together.

Decentralizing the sports industry leads to more support being given to the young athletes, and in particular, the ones that we have mentioned who get released. By providing them with a solid platform and an invincible support unit, the opportunities are limitless for the players who were one step away from giving up on the game completely.

Decentralizing through cryptocurrency allows there to be financial support for the players who could not afford to travel up and down their native countries to try and find the trials that they yearn for. It allows them to receive the correct physio and treatment for injuries that they have while they are unattached from a club. It allows them to keep to their strict diets and live their lives until they find their professional contract.

Footballers do not need to quit when the hurdles approach them in their late teens or early twenties. Ian Wright didn’t start his footballing career until he was 24. He ended up being Arsenal’s record goalscorer and playing for the England National Team.

If we decentralize the football industry, more people will have the chance to do what Ian Wright managed. More players will continue and not give up on their dreams due to lack of financial and moral support. The future of football can be completely revolutionized through decentralization. Decentralization also gives football backs to the fans, it gives them the opportunity to invest in their favourite players and favourite clubs. It means that when the ‘next Marcus Rashford’ comes through at Manchester United, the fans will also have an invested interest in giving him the support that he needs.

The rollercoaster journey of a footballer could turn into elevator journey that doesn’t go down. Decentralization through blockchain is exactly how we do this and it is an opportunity for everybody to have the option in changing the footballing world forever.

Rob Spitz — Globatalent Press Manager

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — –