Abstract
"Organized football" had started as an amateur and European sport. But for fifteen years, football has become a "big business" throughout the world. During the nineties, TV channels have understood the growing popularity of football and have turned this sport from something that happens once a week, "with few games shown live, to something that happens at two different times on Wednesday, three on Saturday and two on Sunday" . TV Rights have been the major driver of teams' spectacular revenue growth. Football became a very attractive business for entrepreneurs who invested in this sport and took the control of clubs in England, Spain, France, Italy and Germany. They brought with them the ultra-liberal ideology and the "just-for-profit" strategy which run the traditional sectors of the economy.
However, after fifteen years of deregulation and ultra-liberal governance, an observation can be made: European football is in an alarming situation and each year the situation gets worse. Violence and racism are now common in stadiums. The fierce globalization has deeply damaged the major components of the football culture: the game itself, the traditional fans and clubs' identities. Casualization in this industry is now a subject of great concern. Thus, smaller players increasingly face job insecurity. Even worse, we also assist to a human traffic of young African players. But the one problem that really threatens European football is economical: Soccer's financial bubble "is about to burst" , according to an increasing number of experts. Soaring wage costs are hitting margins harder than ever. Moreover, an increasing number of reports highlight "increasingly clear warning signs" about the huge debts of European football.
