Introduction and Literature Review
Football is a combination of several games played in different world regions. The Han dynasty, which dominated most of ancient China, had its version of football. Participants had to throw a leather ball loaded with plumes and hair into something like a net fastened to a bamboo cane while dodging tackles from other players. Tso’ Chu was the name of the game in China, which is believed to date as far back as from 206 BC to 220 AD (Williams & Holt, 2019). There was also a Japanese game called Kamari, in which players stood in a circular pattern and passed the ball amongst themselves without allowing the ball to hit the ground.
Episkyros, a Greek sport in which two groups kick a ball inside a rectangle with a midline, was also popular. To win, one group had to get the ball over the opposing team’s borderline, and the game’s signature was the extensive use of deception. The merging of these games with others not discussed and some not even documented has facilitated the emergence of the football game, which many people enjoy today. The governing board of football is the Federation International de Football Association, popularly known as FIFA. Due to the formation of the first regulating body of soccer in England, 1866 would prove to be one of the most crucial years in the sport’s history (Williams & Holt, 2019). England began the period of soccer that would view the sport progressively turn into a vocation by holding the first world cup and having the first well-planned and organized official football league.
The above development may be ascribed in significant part to English football’s intensive marketing, policy, development, and investment. This has seen football become the standard in the increasingly global game, attracting over 2 billion fans annually (Williams & Holt, 2019). Football’s growth has resulted in a wide range of work prospects for many people. Around 150,000 jobs were produced in South Africa alone during the 2012 World Cup (Chuchu, 2021). Building workers and constructors to work on stadium construction, groundskeepers and horticulturists to work on pitch grass, cleaning agents to work all over the stadia, and people to undertake administrative activities at the stadia are examples of modern-day football career opportunities. Football players, trainers, and specialists, to name a few, have all earned careers as a result of the sport.
Football is more than simply a game; it is a gateway to the grandeur and a path out of hardship. The youngsters spend much time jogging on the stony, rock-hard fields, believing that one day they will be able to play in Europe’s huge stadiums. As the number of young players who can make it to Europe’s top clubs grows, so does the number of people who work as football agents. The expanding figure of FIFA-licensed agents in Ghana demonstrates this. Ghanaian football’s development has slowed dramatically compared to its early levels of progress. The dismal performance of national teams and clubs on the international stage in recent years reflects this decline in the level of football.
Ghana has consistently supplied the world of football with excellent players, but the proceeds have not been appropriately funneled to promote football in the country. The availability of facilities, the quality of local football teams, and the country’s strategic youth development systems are all factors in football development in this study (Hawkins et al., 2020). This research aims to determine the expansion of football agencies and examine the influence of that growth on Ghanaian football.
To begin, European teams hire recruitment agencies to scout talents in other nations. Some of these recruiters are citizens of those particular nations; one example is Tom Vernon, a Manchester United scout who has lived in Ghana since 1999. Some European teams form partnerships with local academies to develop players in exchange for a fee. Manchester City’s relationship with Ghana’s right to dream academy is an example of this.
Some European teams have even gone so far as to establish their unique football academies. Ajax Amsterdam is one such team, having found the Ajax Cape Town training school and club. Local business people who run football academies also take players abroad through international partners. Because literature is scarce on sports agencies in Ghana, an examination of papers from other areas of Africa and the world was conducted. The study shows a void in the research on the emergence of football agencies. However, there is material on the constant increase in the transfer of soccer players from Ghana and African countries to Europe, a process with its consequences.
However, because football player transfers are mostly the product of soccer agency activity, the rise in the number of transfers in Africa and Ghana in the case of this research is due to increased football agency activity. A link between clubs and potential players has transformed from unprofessional to professional football. However, the actions of a few agents have tainted the occupation’s reputation, making it difficult for people to believe them, particularly in Africa. The principal-agent theory describes the lack of coordination between the owner and the director as to why football agents take advantage of players.
Research Method
Secondary data analysis has been widely used to examine Ghanaian football compared to the rest of the globe. This method uses readily available data from existing documents, such as newspaper articles, databases of the football management office, and other publications. This approach has several benefits, including easy access to information that would otherwise be hard to obtain via traditional data collection methods, the ability to connect data that had not earlier been linked, and a reduction in research costs. Football is a game for both men and women in Ghana, ranging from beginner to moderate professionals to professional. Men’s champions’ league and cup championships are held at the regional and national levels, while women’s competition championships are held at the high-ranking level. Senior men’s football, out of the different strata’s of the football structure, has made soccer the famous most game globally.
The secondary data analysis was used in this study, highlighting various structures constituting the Ghanaian football structure. The literature review proved women’s football to be still in the early stages. It is also the men’s relatively modest values currently. The development noted is due to the men’s soccer organization. Football agencies in Ghana and that of the rest of the world have significant differences (Joannou & Candlish, 2017). For instance, sports agencies in the United States of America and Europe are more radical in structure and functioning because they started in the stated states. There is fewer sports agents’ regulation in Europe, which makes the state a threat to the moral condition of sports. A couple of guidelines have offered specialists the chance to defraud footballers in numerous ways and not be considered responsible to the law as they have not conflicted with it. The design of sports offices in Europe is well coordinated as specialists typically have effectively settled connections to planned clubs making their exchanges more thorough.
The specialists are capable of their positions, with some going up to the bosses’ level in training. Notwithstanding the essential capacity of football organizations to address footballers, they do different degrees, for example, monetary counsel, underwriting arrangements, and picture consultancy. In Ghana, the sports office is as yet developing; and just the same way as other associations, it shows characteristics of escalated advertising and a battle to make a decent impression in the personalities of individuals. There is next to no guideline on sports offices, and the construction of offices is not clear cut. They complete the exceptionally fundamental elements of sports organization which is arranging bargains for the players.
The segment for the men’s football structure that this present proposition’s assessments depend on this first division association. Worldwide rivalries, including the Black Stars football club, are generally one-time occasions played with significant spans between resulting contests. Cup rivalries are additionally rejected because they are knockout contests. This infers that the number of groups included is split later in every round of matches.
Ghanaian first division is played more than a multi-week period, including multi-day match days. The stretch between a match day and the accompanying one territories from four days to a week and a half. In that capacity, the information gathered here is more itemized examinations. The data incorporates match scenes, contending groups, and how much the home side procures from the gross profit and income collected on the match day.
Discussion
The present reality is an altogether different spot from it was 20 years prior, and this advancement of the world, individuals, and how they do things will proceed for eternity. One of the principal purposes behind the fast progress of the world is innovation. Innovation has turned into a significant piece of our lives through telephones, PCs, and vehicles and is available wherever we go. Innovation is the creation and advancement of things utilizing logical information. Innovation significantly affects each industry existent, and football organization is no exemption Football office has encountered a lot of changes because of the utilization of innovation. The underlying football specialist would need to travel from one side of the planet to arrive at customers who might be footballers, mentors, among others, get together with intrigued business parties, and physically store customer data. With the assistance of innovation notwithstanding, there are phones to arrive at customers far away, TVs to watch customer execution, sites and PCs to watch recordings of skilled players and store customers’ data.
This study accentuates the significance of data innovation in football organizations and would utilize two sites as references. Previously, football specialists did not have to evaluate footballers because they did not have a stage to assist them with looking at the best talent. Today, websites have worked to work with the gig of a football specialist by giving steps that do plenty of these things referenced beforehand.
To guarantee that the football office operates effectively and is assuaged of issues. Such issues include organization extortion, the obliviousness of footballers, and the simplicity of capacity of unlicensed specialists. Moreover, some of the misrepresentations from this office include delaying paying or sometimes failing to release players’ allowances and to desert them whenever they need professional advice. Additionally, the office defrauds participants through dubious contracts aimed at benefitting the officials (Chuchu, 2021). To manage these issues, FIFA ought not simply to preclude clubs from haggling with unlicensed specialists, yet in addition, see filling in as unlicensed specialist wrongdoing. As a team with the security administrations and willing people, individuals would avoid rehearsing football organizations without a permit, and the unlicensed specialists rehearsing would be held by law.
Football players ought to be instructed at the work of a football specialist and the principles with which they work to have the option to recognize a dubious arrangement before its finish. Likewise, they ought to be made mindful of the risks of working with unlicensed specialists and why the affirmation of a specialist is vital. In conclusion, utilizing the head office hypothesis, the players should realize that the specialist represents theirs and not a predominant. Given this, the specialist should pay special attention to the interest of the footballer before his advantage. Besides, the essential answer for the office issue ought to be worked out. This arrangement includes the specialist’s compensation being parted into two categories; one section fixed and the other ward on his result, which the manager would dictate.
Ghana is a highly energetic footballing country known for its skillful and genuinely solid players and enthusiastic football fans. The expression neighborhood is applicable when alluding to something having a place with or associated with the specific spot or region one is talking about or where they reside. Regarding this exposition, the term neighborhood football alludes to cutthroat football being played by proficient groups inside the limits of Ghana. References were likewise made to the exhibitions of Ghanaian groups on the mainland and global scenes.
For football’s planned development to be fulfilled, the parties concerned must assume accountability for growing the business’s basis. The article’s methods revealed a few of the stumbling blocks that continue to hinder football’s advancement. Ghanaian football’s success and hopes of profiting partially rely on the international soccer economy. To effectively benefit from this, the sector’s structure should be matched with that of the global industry. All Premier League teams must be registered as limited companies or assurance, according to a law enacted by the Football Association in 1993. This must be followed up with the execution of tax and salary payments.
To ensure agreement justice and prevent clubs from exploiting players, the FA should establish compensation floors and ceilings for teams to adhere to their compensation systems. Live events from European league and cup tournaments rule Ghanaian broadcast in sports, leaving limited time for local sporting events. The report’s findings suggest that utilizing television may be the key to providing the league with essential global exposure. The FA should guarantee that European football does not control Ghanaian football on home soil. Finally, a football development policy that focuses on children and young people should be devised. By combining education and football, future players are expected to be cleverer in their game implementation. In addition, schooling provides players with an option once they do not accomplish it as professional athletes.
The growing renown of African top clubs is another cause for the rise in African players leaving the region to play in Europe. Africans were once thought to have skill, pace, and power but lacked strategic sophistication. To be allowed to compete in the European game. However, the consistently good results of African clubs have proven that prejudice is wrong in world championships, increasing African participation—rising demand for African players that are not just physically but also strategically skilled.
Professional African players aspire to play in Europe not only because of the larger stadiums and more industrialized cities but also because of the financial advantages that come with it. Understandably, a lot of the money invested in African leagues comes from European investors. It is reasonable, if not apparent that competing for the European team will earn you a great deal of money. Clubs in Africa are unable to hold onto their titles due to the poor financial foundation of the sport. Its players for an extended length of time, long enough for them to have the option to generate more revenue elsewhere. Some of Africa’s biggest clubs, particularly North Africa, are excellent financially. As a result, despite the presence of European teams, they can retain a large number of very skilled players and even purchase them if possible.
Conclusion
This study has presented a clear alternative to the flight from hardship narrative and systemic contextual hypotheses that characterize conversations about the growth and recruiting of young footballers, considering Ghana as a research study. There were no suggestions that young person’s wish to advance their material circumstances had no bearing on their desire to pursue a football career or even that changes in the world have no bearing on their willingness to pursue a football career. The economic structure of Ghanaian football was and continues to be unaffected by football and actors from the Global North. Instead, the section elaborates why reliance on these foundational analytical pillars leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
Ghanaian football is increasingly aimed at developing young teams to move them to a foreign club profitably, and there is more engagement between domestic and global entities to accomplish this. This has resulted in a flurry of financial speculation based on talented players, with young individuals buying soccer clubs and establishing academies in amateur junior leagues in the hopes of discovering the next soccer star for export. Youth’s participation in the procreation of founded political systems via football-related tasks should not be limited to fleeing from economic hardship tale. Moreover, this should not be interpreted as getting merely indoctrinated towards doing how the capitalist system and affiliated corrective dictators tell them they need to do. The fascinating issue about the above-mentioned young Ghanaians’ conduct and the agency is that, in their distinctive manner, both company owners and footballers view themselves as capitalists. This self-concept has arisen due to their creative readings and engagements with the free enterprise ideas pervading Ghanaian culture.
Another purpose in this study was to gather proof of agencies’ expansion and look into their significance on Ghanaian football. Football agency is already developing in Ghana, as it has elsewhere worldwide. This expansion may be ascribed to the economic profit in the field and the increase in the number of people who intend to work in it. Increased skill pool while more people are trying to make a living as professional players. There have, nevertheless, been several instances of football agents deceiving and misleading customers. The majority of these events have been linked to unlicensed agents. FIFA’s attempts to prevent these agents from functioning through governance have been useless since clubs continue to communicate with unregistered agents in violation of the regulatory soccer body’s standards.
A policy adjustment has been suggested to govern the areas of football management that appear to be the vulnerable or problematic areas of the industry. FIFA has imposed limits on clubs, but legislation prohibiting the use of unregistered agents would be much more helpful. Most of the risks related to working with footballers would have to be known to the players. Unapproved agents must be trained on the responsibilities of a soccer agent. Regarding the nature of the organization, players must be wary of the agents’ compensation structures, as this has been a problem for a long time. It has a significant impact on how they handle their work and monitor their customers.
References
Chuchu, T. (2021). The South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup: A look back: Perceptions of its impact on tourism in South Africa.International Review of Management and Marketing, 11(4), 49-58. Web.
Hawkins, B., Ramshaw, G., Hooker, T., & Walker, K. (2020). Creating football memory teams: Development and evaluation of a football-themed reminiscence therapy program.Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 54(1), 32-47. Web.
Joannou, P., & Candlish, A. (2017). The early development of a football hotbed: The onset of the game in Tyne and Wear, 1877–1882.Soccer & Society, 19(1), 107-122. Web.
Williams, J., & Holt, R. (2019). ‘The beautiful game’? The FIFA world cup and English perceptions of Brazil and Argentina, 1958-1986. Contemporary British History, 34(1), 140-162. Web.