Foreign Dominance is a Global Reality

By Zain Alvi | 20th January 2009

Foreign Dominance is a Global Reality | read this item

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Frank Lampard Cristiano Ronaldo Over the last few years, the under-achievements of the England national team have led to questions over how the foreign dominance in the league is impacting the homegrown talent. Some accuse the likes of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger for promoting a predominant policy of favoring foreign talent, while others support the presence of foreign superstars in the league as a reality that should bring the best out of English players.

This article does not further this debate. Instead, this article documents a reality that is often overlooked and seldom noticed by football pundits of the Premier League as well as the aggressive English media. That reality, to put very simply, is the fact that foreign players have actually reigned supreme in just about every major league in the world. This holds true at least for the other three of the four biggest leagues in the world: La Liga, Italian Serie A, and the German Bundesliga.

Many in England were relieved to see Cristiano Ronaldo sweep every single award on the global stage this year as finally someone from the Premiership was crowned as the best player in the world. However, some skeptics were quick to point out that Ronaldo is Portuguese and hence that is another reason to complain about the underperforming homegrown talent. Given that English players have closely missed out on this honor in recent seasons is a possible reason for this frustration.

During Chelsea’s rise to dominance a couple of years ago, England finally got some representation in the form of Frank Lampard, who could only manage to finish second to Ronaldinho in the FIFA World Player of the Year ceremony. Around the same time, Steven Gerrard led Liverpool to a heroic Champions League win in Istanbul to become another England player to gain universal recognition for the country’s homegrown talent. However, even Gerrard could not get the ultimate honor for his country.

Since then, England players have failed to gain any such recognition, mirroring the poor performances that the Gerrard-Lampard partnership has continued to display for England. However, just a bit of close observation proves that Italy isn’t much better. A massive match-fixing scandal marred the nation’s unconvincing World Cup win in 2006 and then-reigning champions Juventus saw all their foreign stars leave the club to contend for higher honors than competing in the Serie B.

Amongst those departures, Zlatan Ibrahimovic stands out as someone who has made a major impact at Inter. As someone who always wanted to play in Inter colors, Zlatan thrived to use his unmatched technique with amazing strength to overpower the defensive mentality of the Serie A. The Swedish striker was rewarded for his great efforts with the honor of Serie A’s footballer of the year last night. If you argue that Zlatan has only just won this award, then remember that his predecessor was Brazil superstar Kaka.

Just like the foreign dominance is hard to ignore in Serie A, one can just not afford to overlook La Liga for the same reason. As mentioned before, Frank Lampard failed to bring the World Player of the Year trophy home to England despite having a dream season with Chelsea in 2004-05. The reason for that was the global dominance of Brazilian star Ronaldinho. The Brazilian’s unmatched dribbling ability crushed Real Madrid’s Spanish dominance and eventually landed a League and European double in the Nou Camp.

The two-time FIFA World Player of the year is now followed into the dominance of the Spanish Premier Division by fellow South American star Lionel Messi. The Argentine was Barcelona’s only bright spot in a horrific last season and has ensured that this season his side competes to become the best side in the world once again.

Bundesliga has a similar story to tell where the German dominance of the league ended with Michael Ballack’s transfer from Bayern to Chelsea. Foreign stars such as Werder Bremen’s Brazilian midfielder Diego as well as Bayern’s Luca Toni and the reigning Bundesliga player of the year, Franck Ribery, have outperformed their German counterparts as Bundesliga has converted into yet another example of a league where foreign dominance prevails.

So what is the moral of the story? Quite simply, foreigners reign supreme around the world. As an England supporter, I understand the apprehensions of those who fear the outcome of this foreign dominance in England. But at the same time, I definitely want the Three Lions to continue their revival under Fabio Capello, who has turned England’s fortunes around completely with an unbeaten World Cup qualifying campaign thus far.

Now as we all know, Mr. Capello is NOT English. He is a foreigner, too. And just like English football has embraced him, it is time to embrace the fact that foreigners are an inseparable part of any set up in the world. Putting quotas on their participation is exactly the same as blocking free trade.

This article does not urge you to take a stand on the issue. Like I said, this article does not further this debate. But what is definitely a rational conclusion here is that like it or not, foreign dominance is a reality in world football. It has helped Spain and Germany in having a great Euro 2008 campaign and England fans should remain hopeful that eventually, they can also enjoy the benefits of this foreign influence.

Listen to Zain on this Sunday’s LIVE Podcast at 1:30pm EST, 6:30pm GMT, and don’t miss the huge winter sale going on in the Premiership Talk Shop!