SportsKenya: World's Most Valuable - Football Teams & Players

Friday, 4 May 2007

World's Most Valuable - Football Teams & Players

Since I've decided not to comment on Kenyan soccer, here's a preview of the most valuable clubs in the world and a list showing the richest players too. In a survey done by Forbes, the top team is Manchester United. This is according to the 2005-2006 season.
Given the take-over by the Glazers and the dominance in the last season of the English premier League, I guess it's justified. They also enjoy some of the most loyal fans and have the best attendance in terms of gate collections. They also boast of the widest fan base. They have a division that does merchandising that accounts for between 3-6 % of revenue. It's worth $1.453 billion (approx KShs. 101.71 billion)with revenues of $ 310 million( approx Kshs.21.7 billion)
The second team in the list is Real Madrid having taken advantage of a star-studded squad in the last three seasons. But the results have not been very good ,meaning reduced gate collections and also the early exit from the Champions League has meant reduced TV ratings.
The third (suprise, suprise !) is Arsenal. This was after last year's appearance in the Champions League Final as well as the building of the new Emirates Stadium. This improved their gate collections making them only second to Old Trafford in terms of filling the stadium.
Complete List:
1.Manchester United
2.Real Madrid
3.AC Milan
4.Arsenal
5.Bayern Munich
6.Juventus
7.Chelsea
8.Internazionale Milan
9.Barcelona
10.Liverpool

As for the Richest player, Ronaldinho replaced David Beckham at the No. 1 slot. Given the pre-World Cup success that 'Gaucho' had with the win in the Champions League and the Spanish League, it was only a matter of time.
This might a temporary situation since David Beckham has signed a summer deal with Major League Soccer side L.A. Galaxy . This will surely enhance his image as a sporting icon. The third on the list though this is a suprise even to my person is Ronaldo( A C Milan).
Complete list:
1.Ronaldinho- $ 29.5 million
2.David Beckham- $29.1 million
3.Ronaldo-$22.1 million
4.Wayne Rooney-$20.4 million
5.Michael Ballack-$19.1 million
6.Thierry Henry-
7.Zinedine Zidane(retired)
8.Fabio Cannavaro
9.John Terry
10.Steven Gerrard
More details ,check www.forbes.com/lists/2006/34/340009.html
I'm sure these figures have changed not just for the clubs but even for the players earnings. The Champions League has been a real money-maker for the clubs and is truly lucrative for European clubs. It also shows the level of commercialisation that has taken sport which ought to be a future for the good of the sportsmen as well as the clubs.
Scratch,scratch....KFF can you hear me ?

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Profile of a Kenyan Sports Personality

This is a look at a Kenyan personality who may have influenced and continues to affect sports in Kenya and inspires all and sundry in sports. It is our hope that you shall reflect on this, take a moment to appreciate the sacrifices and efforts these heroes made. We do take a bow and wave our hats as we cheer true Kenyan patriots in sport!

This one takes a different twist. Having seen individuals grace this column, we have sought to recognize a team of individuals who did some exemplary work and set what has been an unbeatable national and indeed continental effort.

Kenya has never been a major power in shorter races 400m downwards. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this was a different script especially with the more exciting relay races. It is in 1968 when Kenya’s dominance came into play and with it a retinue of athletes who would become legends of their era.

The 4x400m races are usually the climax in the athletics calendar of events and in Mexico ’68, Kenya’s team including Charles Asati, Naftali Bon, Munyoro Nyamau and Daniel Rudisha ( the latter being the father to David Rudisha - current World and African champion in 800m) had other ideas coming 2^nd to USA.

In 1972, the 4 x 400m team was tweaked a bit and the final race was run by Charles Asati, Munyoro Nyamau, Robert Ouko and Julius Sang blazing the track to come up with the only other Gold medal from the Munich Games. But for this unprecedented move and none that has been done before by any other African nation, we salute our compatriots making them the Kenyan sprint legends!

Know your Sport

Swimming

Recently at some social setting we were engaged in a club quiz and one of the questions was about swimming. This sought to know which stroke was not among the competitive ones till 1956. One of our team-mates (we were 6 said that it was back-stroke while I argued it was butterfly, and the majority thought the former ….guess we should have stuck with my answer though!)

All the same, this sport has become one of the most competitive sports in any major sporting extravaganza in the form of the All-Africa Games, Commonwealth or indeed the Olympic Games. Kenya has lately featured in this very involving and energy-sapping sport. Thanks to the exploits of the Dunford brothers who have shone the spotlight on the country away from traditional sports in athletics, football, boxing and rugby. But what do you understand from the sport? Here’s a brief of it from different sources;

According to Wikipedia, swimming is based on the human act of swimming, that is, locomotion in water by self propulsion, with the goal of completing a given distance in the shortest amount of time. Swimming is distinguished from other aquatic sports (such as diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo) that involve swimming but the goal is neither speed nor endurance.

Competitive swimming consists of four strokes: butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle (or front crawl), and backstroke. When all four strokes are done during a race, it is called medley swimming (otherwise known as the individual medley, or I.M.). It is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA).

The goal of competitive swimming is usually to have the fastest time to complete a given distance. Competitive swimming became popular in the nineteenth century. Swimming is an event at the Summer Olympic Games, where male and female athletes compete in 13 of the recognized events each. Olympic events are held in a 50 meter pool (long course).

There are 36 officially recognized individual swimming events – 18 male events and 18 female events; however the International Olympic Committee only recognizes 34 of them – 17 male and 17 female. Most swimming sport events are held in special competition swimming pools, which are either long course pools such as those used in the Olympic Games (50 m) or short course pools such as those used in the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) (25 yards or 25 m). Competition pools have starting blocks from which the competitor can dive in, and possibly also touch-sensitive pads to electronically record the swimming time of each competitor.

In most competitions, the competitors are required to wear swimwear/swimsuits to adequately cover their bodies for the dip. However some suits have created controversies which have seen FINA coming up with standards to adhere to ensure competitors do not have undue advantage over each other.

The sport can also be pursued for personal fitness and is considered by fitness enthusiasts as one of the few that does an all-round job body of keeping the body in shape. It also requires healthy diets and rehydration (yes even if your body’s dipped in water)! Famous names in the sport include Mark Spitz – 7-gold medals winner 1972 Olympics and Michael Phelps – 8 gold medals - Beijing 2008.
For more info, check www.fina.org

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Friday, 4 May 2007

World's Most Valuable - Football Teams & Players

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