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Ronaldinho More Valuable than Australian Team

April 29th, 2006 | By: Euler Costa | 21 Comments »

Soccaroos I came across an article about Ronaldinho’s earnings that raised some embarrassing feelings about the contrasts in football world. But it is very well written and brought light to this taboo issue. How overpaid are these players? After reading the issue and pondering with my own beliefs I gave up feeling funny about the football figure$. Read the article here!

Here in Brazil we have a lot of skin shown in opened television. Most of the auditorium shows (like Jeopardy, for an example) have a bunch of hot girls prancing around with mini skirts, bare legs and tummies, sometimes their butts showing… it’s a very warm country, you know? Many people argue that out television programming is very appealing because of very low standards of quality. The erotic content is frequently more important than the games shown on the screen. Feminists are right when they say that TV handles women like products, because it’s very obvious. My point is: why does that happen? WHY, OH GOD, WHY? Because we like it. Let’s not blame the TV stations, let’s not blame the media corporations, I say we (the common public) are to be blamed.

Same thing happens with the football world. Why did Beckham get all those dollars while there were so many better footballers in this great world of ours? Maybe this subject is a little sensitive to our English friends, but he got the bucks because of his looks and the Spice Girls. Woman seldom have any interest in football, but he got the attention of football fans and horny women at the same time.

Not only that! We all know how the English press is sick (Scolari) and their madness sold his image to a great range of beauty products, fashion clothing and accessory brands. David can’t be blamed! Would you not take the money? Wouldn’t you like to be rich? I would.

Ronaldinho, at the other hand, got his contracts because of his football magic. He is as ugly as a chupacabra, he didn’t marry any models, he didn’t invent any hair styles and he is a black dude with a gentle attitude, so it brings to the real matter of this post. Why does he (or anybody) should get more than the entire Australian team?

The article shed an interesting light about it. It is always about us, about the product consumers. The Spanish championship is sold to every country in the world! I want to see Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Italian championship has too many talents for anyone to ignore. I want to watch Milan, Inter and Juventus. England’s championship? Never mind that. French championship? Great! Australian Championship? Well, let me think… is there any Brazilians playing there? I don’t know. I think I’ll pass.

A lot worst than that is to root for Barcelona more than my beloved Flamengo. The good news is that Flamengo seems to be building a new strong team again. But I want to see Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cicinho, Ronaldinho, Robinho and Adriano more than our local boys. I can see the big question mark over your head, but I can explain. Every time a great player is revealed here in Brazil, he is “stolen” to European teams. They offer so much money that the Brazilian clubs can’t say no. Ronaldinho went off the country when he was 21 years old. Same thing happened with Robinho that left also with 21 yo.

Metrossexual Let me wrap this up. I’m talking about Socceroos assistant coach Graham Arnold that believes “modern players deserve a fair share of the enormous television rights money which has driven the increase in salaries”. Of course! Why not? Who would get all the advertising shares? We live in a planet that shares the same images, in one match, that billions of people are watching… we have brands and products that billions of people are consuming because of that. You do the math!

For now the Australian players and coach must work hard to conquer Europe, or they can buy the best players in the world building the absolutely best league in the world. Neither options are easy, so it’s probable that they will continue in the Brazilian path: my club is my priority, but I know our best players are in Europe.

Warning to y’all!!! Australia will play the game of their lives against Brazil (as any other 30 NTs), so be careful when you are in the betting cabin.

Ronaldinho may worth more than lots of national teams, but it isn’t a good representative value of the player’s talent, but a mix of their teams, their talent, their looks, their ‘scandal factor’ and their marketing potential. Ronaldinho deserves to get that kind of money. Beckham does not. You are to be blamed, as I said before. If you are buying Beckham’s elbow moisture cream, you are guilty. If you are a girl blinking eyes to that blond ridiculous hair style, you are guilty. If you are a gay man hoping to mate with David, you are also guilty. Every Beckham fan that is not a football fan is twisting the football formula when it comes to the beautiful sport. Bla, bla, bla…

We could have a really big tax on European football to help developing countries to build more fields, or to buy some football sneakers for the kids. If this policy is applied here, don’t bother qualifying your teams to the World Cup. Anyway, I don’t believe in fairy tales. Now, just to add some spice into the issue, Ronaldinho is probably receiving only half of what he deserves. Wild capitalism is the strongest trend nowadays. Keep the good job, Australia!!!

(I hate these very long posts just like you, but… what can I say?)

Tags: Group F, World Cup 2006

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Comments

By soze | April 29th, 2006 at 9:20 pm

I read somewhere that Beckhams salary at RM is larger than that of the entire team of Getafe in Spain…and the match history between the two is 4 games played. RM won 2, tied 1 and lost 1.
With that kind of dollar disparity, one would think that RM would win by 4 or 5 goals every time.

By Lupa | April 30th, 2006 at 12:19 am

What do you think? Ronaldinho probably makes more than 10-15 teams in the World Cup. Same with Beckham. That is the way of the world. We build up superstars and they become entitled to absurdity.

Very good post on your part. Made me think about things and that is really something I need to do more often.

By Euler | April 30th, 2006 at 2:31 am

We are fast to blame the players, the clubs and the marketing people, but we are the ones paying, right? I blame my love for football, but I blame more the non-football fans that consume those nasty tabloids. They pay just for the image, not for the sport.

By Mike | April 30th, 2006 at 4:21 am

Not related to the context of your post but I have to correct you when you intimate that the Spanish Primera Liga is the most popular in the world. Based on ESPN Star broadcasting (mainly in Asia) the English Premier League is the most popular.

Posted from Australia

By World Cup 2006 News » Ronaldinho earns more than the whole Australian team | April 30th, 2006 at 11:25 am

[...] There´s an interesting post over at the Brazilian Blog pointing to an article that covers the topic which is the headline here as well. Ronaldinho has overtaken David Beckham as the best paid player there is with an annual income of about 38$ Million. The whole Australian team sums up to about 36$ Million. [...]

Posted from Germany

By Euler | April 30th, 2006 at 12:04 pm

Thanks for the correction, Mike.

Here in Brazil very few people talk about the English Premier League. We usually watch the Spanish and Italian football. There are more Brazilians there, I think.

By eltomas | April 30th, 2006 at 12:15 pm

the NBA, american football, hockey and baseball players in the USA ARE THE ONES OVERPAID, not the soccer, the highgest earning soccer player in the world does not make what shaquille oneal make

Posted from United States

By Tom | April 30th, 2006 at 12:52 pm

I think players are overpaid. Think about it. A man goes to University and wastes more than half of his life getting a degree to be able to get a good job(eg doctor) and be well paid. A player ENTERTAINS people, yet he earns more than the guy that saves people’s lives and help people.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Euler | April 30th, 2006 at 1:45 pm

Market values dictate their value.

A doctor get paid by his patients only. If you can get one doctor to attend the whole world at once, like in a football match, he will get what the European players make.

If we all are willing to pay attention to the players, where would the money go? To the club owners? To the doctors? To church? To third world countries? To research on AIDS and other disieses? To me? To you? How would we convince the clubs and football associations to give away the money we pay?

By Weekend’s Best - FIFA World Cup 2006 - World Cup 2006 Blog | April 30th, 2006 at 2:31 pm

[...] Ronaldinho makes more buckeroos than than all of the Socceroos combined (Brazil Blog) [...]

Posted from United States

By Futahaguro | May 1st, 2006 at 8:53 am

The money has to come from somewhere, just like spam, someone needs to pay it, or open it and buy the item. If those people, or companies, are not there, these people will not be paid that much. If advertising dollars are paying these people most of the money, I could care less. I don’t buy the crap they advertise anyway and if a corporation is paying them stupid amounts of money, fine by me. What pisses me off is when they start charging ABSURD dollar amounts to watch them live in the stadium. Hockey tickets starting at $50, basketball at $60, etc.. I mean, sweet jesus, 4 people to a game pushing $250?? All because these players want huge salaries? Well, my answer to that is not going to the game and watching it on TV. Hopefully there will come a breaking point to some of these absurd costs to the person who wants to watch the game.

Posted from United States

By Euler | May 1st, 2006 at 2:52 pm

Ticket prices should be lower, I totally agree. But I don’t think the player salaries have much to do with it. When you watch TV is when the big money comes in. They can lower the ticket prices if they want.

By Danilo | June 30th, 2006 at 12:21 am

Fanaticism or Patriotism

On this World Cup season, Brazilians seem to forget their real critical social, economic, and political situation. That is because I never saw this nation stop and gather to stand up for their rights like they stop to root for the National “Team” in the World Cups. I never saw this nation stop and get together to fight against corruption scandals like they stop to celebrate in soccer championships. I never saw, once in time, Brazilians stop to battle against social disparity, which is the engine for plenty of crimes. One thing I know, for sure, is while this nation is supporting the victory of Canarinhos (little canary), the Members of the Congress has just approved a project for 5% adjustment for the magistrates of the Supreme Court, which means R$ 24.500,00 to R$ 25.725,00. These numbers represent, yearly, about R$ 132 million spent from the Public Funds, that is, from the taxpayers pockets. In 2005 the ministers raised their salaries from R$ 19.115,00 to 24.500,00. Of course these earnings are just small changes if compared to the US$ 15, 5 billions paid in advance to the IMF (FMI) in the end of 2005. But, actually, it seems that most of Brazilians do not care if their nation is swimming in a puddle of mud. Do they like to be manipulated? I have two hypotheses for this question:
First, Brazilians are so narrow-minded that cannot face that the values of dignity and citizenship are going to the drain and that the media is doing its manipulation job accurately. Or second, they are masochists who love to wake up early everyday at 6:00 am, then step in crowded buses, going to their jobs to work for minimum wages, which can afford, in the end of a month, only the basic bills and the taxes. And although, Brazilians are the most charged taxpayers in the world, we still see in this country, people dying in a line waiting for medical care, we still live in a country of failing Justice, where heinous crimes are forgiven and forgotten and the impunity prevails. Then, we see the consequences of the Brazilian society’s behaviour, which are not so rewarding because, as they start to blame the Government for its mistakes, they forget that the whole society is responsible for choosing the political leaders. After all this situation, I conclude that, to hope seeing this crowd marching on the streets of Brazil, to protest against this moral chaos with the same euphoria that they cheer in the World Cups, is the same to believe that the President Lula will never lie again

RIBEIRO, Danilo Andrade. UFMG, 2006

Posted from Brazil

By cos | July 3rd, 2006 at 1:39 am

Well, hey it is probably good for players to earn a lot of money because then they can give it to charity because do you think their clubs will.

Posted from Australia

By cos | July 3rd, 2006 at 1:45 am

How can ronaldinho earn more than the whole Australian team is, for him to earn more he would have to be better than all of the ozzy team combined but he isnt. Lets see ronaldinho make it to the quarter finals on his own.

Posted from Australia

By cos | July 3rd, 2006 at 1:49 am

I dont blame ronaldinho, i mean if hes unfair then every person whos ever won a million dollars for buying a 2 dollar lottery ticket is also unfair because that is an obsene amount of money for a little piece of paper and who says that ronaldinho doesnt give money to charity. For all we know he gives 90% of his earnings to charity.

Posted from Australia

By cos | July 3rd, 2006 at 1:52 am

Ronaldinho does not command his salary like actors do, he just gets that much from playing soccer. If your father was an engineer do you think he would have the right to “command” 200,000 a year, no he wouldnt, neither does ronaldinho or beckham. Come on if someone was offering you 8 mil a year then another several multi-million endorsement contracts on top of that would you reject it, no you propably wouldnt. Think about that.

Posted from Australia

By cos | July 3rd, 2006 at 2:01 am

Guys think about this, ronaldinho, beckham dont get paid 30 odd mil a year for playing soccer they get about 8 mil a year for playing soccer. Lets take the owner of adidas or nike for example, they make, market then sell. But you dont think their unfare do you. Beckham and ronaldinho do just that, they make, market and sell, then they’ve got their football salary on top of that. People make 100 of millions a year from selling products, beckham and ronaldinho do just that but earn far less than other people so their just doing things their way to make money like we do but they do it differently.

Posted from Australia

By Youssef | October 29th, 2006 at 10:08 pm

If anyone has studied any economics, you would know that its simple supply and demand. The clubs who want Ronaldinho on their team to win games for them come to an equilibrium price that he is worth, determined by economic laws, and nobody is to blame for that.

Posted from Australia

By Xaasid | November 7th, 2006 at 10:41 am

Ronaldinho is a very good player but no footballer deserves more than 50k max a year!!! (money from ads and that not included)

By Falco Pangkey | November 30th, 2006 at 11:55 am

Currently he is the god of soccer that runs on the fields. I don’t think anybody will earn more money than he do. By the way.. Australia did well in Germany, thank you Guus!

Posted from Netherlands