Final assignment: Analysis of the process of modernization in the French sport: Evolution of the French football

Résumé du document

Football must be one of the most popular sports in the world. Almost everybody knows what kind of sport it is. As a lot of team sports such as, its cousin rugby, football was created in Great Britain. The myth of the English sportsmen was spread and with this concept, all the modern sports (like athletics, football and rugby) reached the rest of Europe.
In France, nowadays, football is the most popular sport and that is the reason why I have chosen this sport to explain the process of modernization. To illustrate my point, we just need to look at the record sales of newspapers. L'Equipe was the first newspaper dedicated to sport sold in France and speaks mainly about football. Another interesting fact is that 600 millions of Euros is the amount of money Canal plus will spend during the next four seasons in order to exclusively broadcast League 1. Although League 1 is the most expansive football championship of the world, we all agree with the fact that the Italian Seria A, the Spanish Primera Division, the English Premiership or even the German Bundesliga is much better. Indeed, if we take a look at the teams which reached the quarter finals of European Champions League, we will find three Italian teams ( Inter Milan, Milan A.C, Juventus Turin), two Spanish ( Villareal and Barcelona), one English ( Arsenal ), one Portuguese ( Benfica Lisbon ) and finally one French, Olympique Lyonnais.

Extraits

[...] decided under compulsion to organize football and the first championship occurred in 1894. However, U.S.F.S.A. did not facilitate the football spreading and encouraged more the (amateur) rugby development. In Normandy, thanks to the British influence, football became as important as it was in Paris. Step by step, football clubs were created in other regions like Britain, Picardie and Champagne is the year of the creation of F.I.F.A. and also of the French national team that is why I chose this year for the beginning of the stratification stage. [...]

[...] The only element Lyon was lacking of was a powerful partner and Aulas found it with Pathé. The following step was to develop merchandising in Lyon. In fact, his goal was to create and to develop the name Olympique Lyonnais as a brand. For his, it was important to reduce the dependence on broadcasting rights ant that is why he developed the brand. According to him, it was a new source of money and profit for the club. Merchandising is a crucial issue; we can find a lot of branches of OL holding: - OL Store - OL Taxi - OL Hairdresser - OL Mobile phone service - OL Driving school - OL Pub - OL Travelling agency - OL Beauty - OL Mag - OL Music - OL Drink - OL Tv Furthermore, the OL website offers a wide range of products for fans (jersey, shirts, towels I have a reason to believe that if the winning of the Champions League is the ultimate goal on the sportive plan, the final aim for the business plan is to enter the Stock Exchange. [...]

[...] Let's come back on the entrance of private companies in football. From cities administration to private companies As we know, the link between cities and clubs is very important in Europe. Indeed, football clubs can act as an ambassador for the city and it is quite impossible to think about a franchise system in Europe. In France, the most striking case is Auxerre. Without A.J.A, who will know this city which has less than inhabitants? Even if most of the cities administration decided to sell their shares only 20 years ago, there are always been some cases in which the relationship between company and football clubs is pretty old. [...]

[...] Final Assignment: Analysis of the process of modernisation in the French sport: Evolution of the French football Introduction Football must be one of the most popular sport in the world. Almost everybody knows what kind of sport it is. As a lot of team sports such as its cousin rugby, football was created in Great Britain. The myth of the English sportsmen was spread and with this concept, all the modern sports (like athletics, football and rugby) reached the rest of Europe. [...]

[...] Then I will speak about the way private companies entered football, in the process of modernization of this sport. In a second part, I will demonstrate what kind of perspectives French football is facing with, especially with the new challenges of the modernization: stock exchange and merchandising by providing you the example of Lyon success. Historical presentation Bech and Chadwick development thesis applied to French football Foundation: 1860s-1893 Football was created in England and was codified by the English Football Association (F.A.) in 1863. [...]