Lionel Messi and a series of other stars have, are and will move to tournaments such as the MLS, the Saudi Arabian league or even Australia. So, have we ever wondered when and how did these leagues become the "retirements" of European football? Are these the only options to "retire" with the players on the slopes on the other side of the career? The following article will partly answer those questions.
How was the MLS "nursing home" built by Beckham?
On a July day nearly 7 years ago, 20 fans and 5.000 media staff from newspapers large and small across the United States flocked to the Home Depot Center, now known as Dignity Health Sports Park. , to witness a historic moment for the whole American football, a moment as important as the moment the United States was chosen to host the 700 World Cup, that was when David Beckham - "the king of millions of pounds" of British football in particular and Europe in general moved to America.
And it was from this moment that Lionel Messi, the new "emerald" of the project called Inter Miami led by David Beckham, and before that, countless other names, moved to the prestigious playground. Major League Soccer, also abbreviated as MLS.
"It's interesting that Messi is moving to David's team again," said Tim Leiweke, former director of Anschutz Entertainment Group and the "chief architect" of the project to bring David Beckham back to LA Galaxy. shared with The Athletic in a recent phone interview. "It can be said that Beckham is making good use of the things he creates."
David Beckham on the launch day of his new club LA Galaxy. Behind him is the "chief architect" of this deal, Mr. Tim Leiweke. Source: Bleacher Reports.
According to The Athletic, it was David Beckham who created a "retirement home empire" called Major League Soccer, thereby paving the way for many other football "nursing homes" models. So, how did the British player as well as BTC Major League Soccer do it?.
According to this news site, Beckham's move to MLS led the organizers of the top tournament "of the United States of America" to create a rule that was applied to MLS right in the first season Beckham moved to Home Depots. Under this rule, teams have the right to spend more money on certain players known as "marquee players", or groups of players who "promote" for the team that player joins, most of which are football players. The player was on the other side of the slope of his career. After the success of this model, the Australian Championship also followed a similar pattern with this "marquee players" model of American football. According to this rule, each club will have a maximum of 3 "marquee players" in its team.
Few people know that Tim Leiweke is the one who "convinced to break the tongue" of the team owners in Major League Soccer to implement his project called "David Beckham rules". Thanks to that, MLS has witnessed the landing of a series of famous names such as Thierry Henry, Kaka, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Didier Drogba. That is not to mention the late star of football like Miguel Almiron, who played at Atlanta United before being recruited by Newcastle United four years ago in the winter transfer window of the 4-2018 season.
According to sources close to The Athletic, Inter Miami, the team owned by Beckham himself, is also using the code named after him to bring Lionel Messi and his former teammate Sergio Busquets to Lockhart Stadium in next season. It can be said that without this "Beckham law", the above famous names will never be able to reach the top division in the US.
To bring Lionel Messi to Lockhart Stadium, David Beckham "made use of what he created" in the words of former president Tim Leiweke. Source: Goal.
Another thing that also helps Inter Miami get the signature of Lionel Messi, according to The Athletic, is the "outside" benefits that come in the contract between the two parties. A guise was made by LA Galaxy when David Beckham was about to sign his contract with LA Galaxy more than a decade ago. Rather, it was the "delicious bait" that LA Galaxy spread to lure David Beckham out of European football that set a precedent for MLS teams to follow in the following seasons.
Specifically, in the contract between LA Galaxy, MLS and David Beckham, there are quite a few commercial benefits. Plus, it comes with entertainment benefits for owners of LA Galaxy, Anschutz Entertainment Group, and Simon Fuller, America's most notoriously strict music manager and judge. Idol, with his agency, 19 Entertainment. Another person who also benefits from this deal is Victoria Beckham, the wife of the once talented midfielder of English football, and a former member of the hit band Spice Girls.
According to The Athletic, the move to the top league in the US has enhanced Victoria Beckham's position on the world stage in general and Hollywood in particular. The proof is that this once-popular Spice Girls has a special, hour-long program called "Victoria Beckham: Coming To America", something quite similar. with Georgina Rodríguez, who launched the documentary in partnership with Netflix after becoming the partner of Cristiano Ronaldo, who is currently "fighting" in Saudi Arabia with Al Nassr club.
According to The Athletic, thanks to this move to MLS, the former Spice Girls were acquainted with Hollywood A-listers such as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. In addition, the UK's most popular couple is also included in the list of Hollywood's highest-grossing star couples with $58 million, just behind Jay-Z-Beyonce and Will-Jada Pinkett Smith.
Three of Hollywood's richest couples at the beginning of the 21st century in the same frame. Source: Toledo Blade.
According to Simon Fuller, this deal also comes from the ambition to "take over America" of the British boss and his client. Specifically, he told Grant Wahl, the late veteran journalist in his book, as follows: “Reach for the stars. If we can't reach them, then at least we've tried our best. And in the case of reaching for them, you are the one who makes history.”
Is this the only trend?
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, or before that names like Oscar, Hulk, Marouane Fellaini, have all chosen different "nursing houses" for their careers, which are tournaments "just right" for themselves. them to enjoy the last days of their careers. However, not always the top players in the world choose to "retire" in the "low-lying" clubs of world football like that.
Some players will follow the way of Ha Tri Chuong in the past after "committing mandarins", which is to return to the "old hometown, old home", where they have been attached for a long time. Some have achieved a lot of success with this "repatriation" of their own. For example, the case of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who "returned to his homeland" Milan and then won the last Scudetto title of his career with the Rossoneri in the 2021-2022 season.
“Out of time” is a word that has never been in the dictionary of Zla10… Source: Sportsmax.TV
Another case that is even more fulfilling than Ibra is Ivan Rakitic, who, after many years of fighting in the Blaugrana shirt, a lifelong dream of the players who fought in La Liga, has returned to his "homeland" "Sevilla 3 years ago in the summer transfer window of 2020, and then, together with Sevilla, wrote the journey to Sevilla's 7th Europa League title last season, a glorious title. but also tinged with controversy because of the "confusing" decisions of the referee with AS Roma, the runner-up of the Europa League that season.
… or Ivan Rakitic. Source: Football Espana.
It can be seen that each player will have different ways to "retire". Some people will go to the "low-lying" teams to play the last years of their careers calmly, but some still want to prove to their "old place", especially the players who feel they still "debt" the place that built their career for something. Each person will have different success in their career, but all will have to remember the person who paved the way for the "retirement trend" of European football's peak in tournaments like MLS, the Arab League Saudi or A-League, that's David Beckham, a legend of the Old Traffford yard.
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Photo sources, documents: The Athletic, Football Espana, Goal, SportsMax…
