4 ms·

I can confirm that sports betting is also slowly eating away at what is left of the game of football (soccer, for US HN-ers) over here in Europe. We’ve got the

I can confirm that sports betting is also slowly eating away at what is left of the game of football (soccer, for US HN-ers) over here in Europe. We’ve got the English Premier League and the Champions League that are (maybe) still free of this cancer, as in (maybe) their results and general play are as close to 100%-fair as one can get, but outside of that it’s the Wild West. The second leagues in most of Central and Eastern Europe (I used to go to such matches before the pandemic) are pretty much a fantasy league for betting, there’s almost no sporting merits anymore when it comes to the game itself. The situation persists if one goes higher up the chain and further West, maybe not as dramatic and especially not as visible but if you know where to look and how to look at things it all becomes clear(er). In other words the game is pretty much gone, to paraphrase a famous /r/soccer meme. And I didn’t go into the incredibly high psychical toll this phenomenon has on the people who are actually addicted to this s*it (pardon my French). I saw a close friend of mine going through it relatively recently and is hell, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, not even on my biggest enemies.

agumonkey 5y ago
I thought it was a European thing but it's worldwide.. sadly.
323 5y ago
I don't think the it's all because of betting. Celebrity culture is another major factor. Players are now becoming famous for being famous soccer players, like the Kardashians. It's irrelevant if they can play or not. How many followers you have on Instagram is now more important than how many goals you score.
- dylan604 5y ago
  Name a famous footballer that cannot play. The comparisons to the Kardashians is quite a stretch.
  - majani 5y ago
    Yeah, I can only remember Rashford and Lingard trying that approach earlier in their careers but they quickly stopped it once their performance quality dipped
    - dylan604 5y ago
      It's not like either of them have been well managed the past few seasons. They were skilled enough to catch the attention that brought them to where they are. Maybe they focused too much on the attention and less to what got the attention in the first place. That's unfortunately part of the gaffer's job to manage the players off the field as much as the tactics on the field.
MrFantastic 5y ago
Betting on footie seems like a long term loser. The bookmakers cut guarantees you will lose over the long run.
- phillc73 5y ago
  Tony Bloom would disagree! [1] [1] https://www.legalsportsbetting.com/famous-sports-bettors/tony-bloom/ https://www.legalsportsbetting.com/famous-sports-bettors/ton...
mdoms 5y ago
Are you saying that players are throwing games due to sports betting? Can you give an example? I'm not doubting you, I have never followed football so I have no idea, I'm just curious. Especially about your statement "...if you know where to look and how to look at things it all becomes clear(er)".
- philk10 5y ago
  No specific example but this article gives an idea of what's going on - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11789671 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11789671
- paganel 5y ago
  > Can you give an example? It's in Romanian, because this is the league I follow, but something like this [1], maybe Google Translate can help, basically a player (incidentally, playing for the team I follow) letting in a goal just because (the goal on YT in here [2]). Maybe that was still because of a genuine mistake, but searching for "pariuri site:https://liga2.prosport.ro/ https://liga2.prosport.ro/" returns many other articles related to suspected betting in the Romanian second league. Also, at a (much) higher level club owners like Napoli's De Laurentiis might be crazy enough (I do personally see him capable of that) to be directly involved in this sort of stuff. There was a very suspect thing happening at the end of last season in Italy, basically Napoli needed a (relatively easy) home win in the last stage against a smaller opponent which had nothing to gain anymore, but they didn't, the match ended 1-1 [3], so Juventus (one of Napoli's biggest rivals) got their CL place instead. As a Juventus fan I saw that as very, very suspicious, especially as I could have sort of guessed beforehand that that sort of thing would happen. And before anyones says: "no Serie A club owner would do such a highly illegal thing!" a couple of months ago Sampdoria's (now former) club owner got arrested because of some other illegal shenanigans (afaik not betting-related) [1] https://liga2.prosport.ro/cupa-romaniei/se-va-sesiza-comisia-de-integritate-dupa-golul-ciudat-de-la-buzau-este-jignitor-pentru-oamenii-care-se-uita-la-sport-se-joaca-la-pariuri-19207776 https://liga2.prosport.ro/cupa-romaniei/se-va-sesiza-comisia... [2] https://youtu.be/Gl4gkgL25wE?t=237 https://youtu.be/Gl4gkgL25wE?t=237 [3] https://www.espn.com/soccer/report/_/gameId/582783 https://www.espn.com/soccer/report/_/gameId/582783

agumonkey 5y ago

I thought it was a European thing but it's worldwide.. sadly.

323 5y ago

I don't think the it's all because of betting. Celebrity culture is another major factor. Players are now becoming famous for being famous soccer players, like the Kardashians. It's irrelevant if they can play or not. How many followers you have on Instagram is now more important than how many goals you score.

dylan604 5y ago
Name a famous footballer that cannot play. The comparisons to the Kardashians is quite a stretch.
- majani 5y ago
  Yeah, I can only remember Rashford and Lingard trying that approach earlier in their careers but they quickly stopped it once their performance quality dipped
  - dylan604 5y ago
    It's not like either of them have been well managed the past few seasons. They were skilled enough to catch the attention that brought them to where they are. Maybe they focused too much on the attention and less to what got the attention in the first place. That's unfortunately part of the gaffer's job to manage the players off the field as much as the tactics on the field.

MrFantastic 5y ago

Betting on footie seems like a long term loser. The bookmakers cut guarantees you will lose over the long run.

phillc73 5y ago
Tony Bloom would disagree! [1] [1] https://www.legalsportsbetting.com/famous-sports-bettors/tony-bloom/ https://www.legalsportsbetting.com/famous-sports-bettors/ton...

mdoms 5y ago

Are you saying that players are throwing games due to sports betting? Can you give an example? I'm not doubting you, I have never followed football so I have no idea, I'm just curious. Especially about your statement "...if you know where to look and how to look at things it all becomes clear(er)".

philk10 5y ago
No specific example but this article gives an idea of what's going on - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11789671 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11789671
paganel 5y ago
> Can you give an example? It's in Romanian, because this is the league I follow, but something like this [1], maybe Google Translate can help, basically a player (incidentally, playing for the team I follow) letting in a goal just because (the goal on YT in here [2]). Maybe that was still because of a genuine mistake, but searching for "pariuri site:https://liga2.prosport.ro/ https://liga2.prosport.ro/" returns many other articles related to suspected betting in the Romanian second league. Also, at a (much) higher level club owners like Napoli's De Laurentiis might be crazy enough (I do personally see him capable of that) to be directly involved in this sort of stuff. There was a very suspect thing happening at the end of last season in Italy, basically Napoli needed a (relatively easy) home win in the last stage against a smaller opponent which had nothing to gain anymore, but they didn't, the match ended 1-1 [3], so Juventus (one of Napoli's biggest rivals) got their CL place instead. As a Juventus fan I saw that as very, very suspicious, especially as I could have sort of guessed beforehand that that sort of thing would happen. And before anyones says: "no Serie A club owner would do such a highly illegal thing!" a couple of months ago Sampdoria's (now former) club owner got arrested because of some other illegal shenanigans (afaik not betting-related) [1] https://liga2.prosport.ro/cupa-romaniei/se-va-sesiza-comisia-de-integritate-dupa-golul-ciudat-de-la-buzau-este-jignitor-pentru-oamenii-care-se-uita-la-sport-se-joaca-la-pariuri-19207776 https://liga2.prosport.ro/cupa-romaniei/se-va-sesiza-comisia... [2] https://youtu.be/Gl4gkgL25wE?t=237 https://youtu.be/Gl4gkgL25wE?t=237 [3] https://www.espn.com/soccer/report/_/gameId/582783 https://www.espn.com/soccer/report/_/gameId/582783