It was an off-hand line from a senior European football executive, but one that has been echoed a lot over the last 12 months.
“Well, we’ll take them to court.”
It is a threat as potent in modern football as any Jude Bellingham burst, any Erling Haaland finish or any Aitana Bonmati pass. These three players marked themselves out as the stars of 2023, but there has been an element of producing relatively disposable moments in an increasingly predictable sport, before we get to the really meaningful action of what happens off the pitch.
This was after all a year when a King’s Counsel literally had a banner made about him, royals from autocracies were thanked and huge clubs made videos celebrating a court ruling as if it was the signing of Kylian Mbappe.
This has been the legacy of 2023 for football. It was the year when a series of factors and fault lines converged to finally move the most influential action off the pitch.
You only have to run through the major achievements of 2023, before you even get to the really big storylines.
Manchester City became the second English club to win the treble, as Pep Guardiola also won a personal second to crown a third successive title. This wasn’t really discussed as the defining achievement it would usually have been, though, because of a host of off-field issues.
There is first of all the manner and meaning of all this. City’s success was a consequence of a state project of unprecedented scale, where the club’s Abu Dhabi owner has invested as much money as possible, to have the best of everything and make their superiority an inevitability.
There is then the development that sparked a resolve in Guardiola’s players and made them determined to “show it on the pitch”. City’s domineering late-season run was preceded by the news that the Premier League had charged the club for 115 alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play rules.
Given the scale of the case and potential punishments, the uncertainty weighs over the entire game. It is no exaggeration to say it could be an existential event in modern football, such is the strength of feeling. Again, it will come from meeting rooms rather than matches. What happens on the pitch is now influenced to a far greater degree than ever before.
That has now been compounded by a similar investigation into Chelsea from the Roman Abramovich era, as well as Everton’s 10-point punishment for breaching the retitled Profit and Sustainability rules. These are the sort of records that 2023 was responsible for.
It’s little wonder that Premier League meetings are now described as primarily “consisting of club lawyers making speeches”.
It goes way beyond England of course. One of the year’s set-piece events, in Australia and New Zealand, almost summed it all up.
There we had the England women’s team achieving a historic landmark in getting to a World Cup final, only to be beaten by a Spanish team goal of divine quality. It was football at its best, imbued with profound human emotion given the sad passing of Olga Carmona’s father, before the Real Madrid star scored the winner.
It immediately evolved into the sport at its worst. Then Spanish federation chief Luis Rubiales ended up dominating all of the aftermath with a boorish display, where he forcibly kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips to her obvious displeasure. It eventually led to the player filing a criminal complaint and the executive’s long-overdue resignation.
Luis Rubiales overshadowed Spain’s victory in Sydney
While the story was ultimately about long-term issues in Spanish football as well as power dynamics in the game as a whole, it similarly reflected broader issues with football governance. Rubiales’ obstinance raised necessary questions about some of the figures who get into the game’s administrative roles and how much power they are afforded.
Many other people in football recognised how difficult it is to bring power change. The game has a serious governance problem and a crisis of leadership, compounded by a complete lack of accountability.
Look at the major decisions this year, even beyond those in the Premier League. Aleksander Ceferin was re-elected as Uefa president without any opposition, to go with his Fifa counterpart Gianni Infantino doing the same last year. Both meanwhile oversaw bidding processes that involved single candidates for the major tournaments in 2028, 2030, 2032 and 2034.
The UK and Ireland will enjoy benefits from this, as the hosts of Euro 2028, but the lack of surprise ensured this didn’t feel like landmark news.
Spain players celebrate after the team’s victory in the FIFA Women’s World Cup
Gianni Infantino with the trophy during the ceremony after the Club World Cup final
