In 5 years time we could be walking round a zoo, or so the song goes. In football however, things are constantly adapting at a seemingly exponential rate. Gone are the days of short-shorts, perms and Kevin Keegan. We are in the social media, brand-obsessed, money age. Footballers are now seen as more than just what they do on the pitch, they’re now models, entrepreneurs, politicians, charity workers and much more. Essentially, Hector Bellerin is the type of person your granddad would scoff at, claiming he’ll never make it as a footballer, while you’d think the exact same thing about Billy Bremner.

Despite the constant adaptation, it’s near impossible to envisage what the world of football will be like in even a short-ish time frame of 5 years. Who could have predicted the entire of 2020 so far, and with the seemingly cursed world we live in, football is only going to get more extreme, flamboyant and money centric, and I’m rather excited about it all.

This post will look at 5 specific predictions towards the world of football by the year 2025. While there are some more serious and thought-provoking points to consider, such as the increasing inevitability of clubs outside the top division struggling to stay financially secure, the over-inflation of fans ticket prices and the off-field duties of footballers to be socially responsible and active in global issues. Instead, I’ve decided to stay a bit more light hearted about the next 5 years and stick to some more niche (less depressing) thoughts for the future.

As the old saying goes, ‘Que Sera Sera, whatever will be will be… we’re going to Wembley’.

Tech, Tech and More Tech

Love it, or hate it… the marmite of modern football is undoubtedly the introduction of technology, and the growing reliance and influence it has. Over the entirety of the Premier League era, we have slowly watched the game become centred on the use of technology to ‘improve’ the on-field and off-field side of football. Whether that’s from monitoring each players individual performance, the way we as fans consume the game, or everybody’s favourite VAR, technology is changing the game.

This robot takeover is only going to continue as the technology develops and improves. As mentioned previously, whether you love or hate the changes, ultimately we are too-far through the looking glass with regards to technology, and VAR is here to stay. Despite it’s introduction to make refereeing decisions more consistent and accurate, we are arguably seeing the exact opposite. Every week there is a new controversy regarding mm offsides or red-card decisions that were/weren’t given. This will continue and adapt until eventually it’s part of the furniture of football, and the next craze being introduced takes our attention away.

With regards to the future of technology, I think there will be significant updates and alterations on the aforementioned VAR usage, however this will be against the general opinion of minimising, and in reality it will become even more heavily relied on from referees. We have written another post regarding potential ways VAR could be used in the future, and despite their ridiculousness, I wouldn’t rule anything out for the future of robot refereeing.

Off-field, our technology usage is again going to increase, as the major traditional TV providers will possibly be outpriced to air the Premier League games, leading to the well-discussed ‘Netflix-style’ streaming platform for football. Something we have already seen with La Liga, Serie A and even Ligue 1, the Premier League will potentially become the latest league to try out this money making idea. Will it be the new way to consume football in England, possibly, would it financially cost us fans significantly, probably.

Finally, the clubs and statisticians will also be embracing more technology, as we see more tweets about xG and km covered per player. The ability for big Steve down the pub to access a library of useless statistics to determine if he thinks his clubs’ star-player played ‘shit or not’ is already remarkable. The information being available to coaches, doctors and players themselves is now readily available to everyone. Thanks to technology, at the click of a button, Statman Dave will tell me how many ball recoveries Jordan Henderson has compared to Scott McTominay over 90 minutes. Many fans scoff at this information as unnecessary nonsense that is used by pundits and supporters to make themselves sound like a know-it-all about a simple game made complicated. However for stats nerds like myself, I’m ready to hear much more about Mason Greenwood’s xG, xA and then what he had for tea the next day. For better or worse, information distribution will keep growing thanks to technology, and I’ll be there for sure, scrolling and scrolling.

Goodbyes are Hard

Now, I feel it’s my duty to pre-warn anyone reading this point about the potential existential crisis it may cause. However, it should be no surprise that as time moves on, we physically move slower, and that’s certainly the case for footballers. Therefore, in 5 years time, I believe we will be seeing the final few cameo appearances at a playing level of many stars that fans such as myself grew up with. For slightly older football fans, this is something they’ve gone through, with players from the 90s and early 00s already making the big leap from the pitch to punditry. For myself though, this generational transition is only really getting started, although I grew up with the likes of Scholes, Giggs, Lampard and Gerrard who have all hung up their boots in the past few years, I was fortunate enough to watch possibly the greatest ever duo to grace the field and flourish from small impact subs with frosted tips, into fully fledged legends and icons of the game. That’s right, I’m talking about James Milner and Nemanja Matić… and Messi and Ronaldo I guess.

With a combined 1,288 club goals between the pair, from 1,623 appearances, the pair have averaged 0.79 goals per game in their 17/18 year first-team playing careers. The list of stats, honours and footballing records is seemingly endless, and given Ronaldo’s 6-pack Instagram photos/videos and Barcelona’s reliance on their Argentine talisman, it may appear that they will continue dominating the game forever. However, although it may seem difficult to think about, in reality I don’t want to watch these 2 icons of the game become aging players who are too important on-field and financially to their respective clubs to get the graceful ending to their remarkable careers. So, I would be hopeful to see the legends of the game make way for their successors in style, either through passing the baton to a successor, or having a cameo season back where they began in Argentina/Portugal before hanging up their boots. Whatever they choose to do afterwards is completely up to them, but worryingly soon I believe we will need to mentally prepare ourselves for the passing of the torch from many top-stars.

The list of players set to leave the playing field over the next 5 years could be massive, as the call of management roles and the Soccer Saturday presenting team lure aging legs into that sweet comfy armchair of retirement. Although of course, Ronaldo and Messi along with others, could follow in the footsteps of a Zlatan, or Kazuyoshi Miura in seemingly carrying on forever, eventually we will have to say goodbye to our inevitable Ballon d’Or victors and instead find new baby goats to nurture into the G.O.A.T status we all love to hashtag. For now though, and for the next few seasons at least, lets enjoy the footballers we have around, from Messi to Wes Morgan, Ronaldo to Stewart Downing… just savour ever minute.

Ballon d’Or’s for All

It’s time… time to wrangle some new G.O.A.T.S and formally recognise this new crop of talent by breaking the 12-year dominance (2018 aside) of Ronaldo and Messi and the Ballon d’Or. In 2019, many had thought Van Dijk would become the first defender to win the sports top individual prize since Cannavaro in 2006, but ultimately the Messi and Ronaldo party kept rolling as the Argentine added his 6th trophy to his incredible collection. In 2020 it had seemed to be the end of their reign at the top, as bookies, pundits and fans around the world thought Lewandowski would be finally recognised for his ‘LewanGOALski year’, however somehow Ronaldo and Messi managed to unleash a pandemic on the world which led to the tournament being cancelled. Don’t ask me how they managed it, but 2021 surely has to be the year the duo’s magic wears off and we get some variety in the competition.

Now, don’t get me wrong, those boys done good to earn their trophies, however it is a bit ‘meh’ when they continue to make ‘1-2’ passes of the trophy between themselves, and not allowing others to play. Thinking of some of the names who have missed out on the top-trophy during the last 12 years; Lewandowski, Xavi, Iniesta, Van Dijk, Neuer, Salah, Ribery and of course Neymar. So many talents of the game are yet to break through to win the top-prize, however the world is ready for something fresh and new. So, over the next 5 years, I predict that we will see a variety of names claiming the prestigious golden ball. Lewandowski is a sure-thing for the 2021 prize after he was really owed one from the cancelled 2020 prize, while Mbappe will move from new kid on the block to outright mega-star. Meanwhile, Sancho and Haaland look to take the prize to the Westfalenstadion. We could have some outsider pick up the prize with young prospects like Fati, Greenwood and Foden picking up more game time and impressing with every passing minute.

Ultimately, whoever claims the prize deserves to be a winner, however it will be refreshing to have an actual competition for the Ballon d’Or, as opposed to the rotation between the two legends. Whatever happens though, I really can’t envisage one man from ever winning the prize, despite him making a major career move and expressing clear intentions of wanting it… Neymar. His move to PSG was linked with comments of wanting to move out of Messi’s shadow, and trying to claim individual awards, however he has been usurped by Mbappe who is the French clubs’ talisman. Adding into this, his injury record and failure to perform on the big stage of the Champions League, and ultimately I can’t see the now 28-year-old ever claiming the trophy he desires so much.

Men on the Move

In order to make the Ballon d’Or’s for all prediction come to fruition, we will certainly be seeing some big moves for big names. This inevitably will create a domino effect around some major clubs who need to buy/sell to improve their finances and talent. Despite the obvious financial impact of the lockdown, for the top-clubs, they will recover fairly quickly and continue their incredible spending. Additionally, we are on the verge of seeing more incredibly wealthy people taking over clubs like Newcastle which will allow even more major spending.

Because of this, I am predicting that we will see big names in shirts we never could envisage at this point. Some of these will include; Pogba making the move to Spain, Neymar returning to Barcelona to claim Messi’s Camp Nou crown, Mbappe trying out a more challenging league, Messi to re-join Guardiola, Sancho/Haaland linking up in the Premier League and Mo Salah running down the wing of the Bernabéu.

Now, even writing that I feel like I’m imagining something out of a FIFA career mode save, however I honestly think that some major clubs need major renovation, and despite their best intentions, the previous academy products will not be as readily available for a quick fix, and clubs will spend big on big names to become competitive once again. In Spain, the two major clubs are seriously struggling to recapture their European dominance, whilst in England the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are looking more Europa League than Champions League. Only German sides seem to have that dominant feeling, however these are the clubs who inevitably will be raided by their competition for an extortionate cost.

Whenever we see one of the major transfers occurring, the domino effect this has becomes inevitable. Thinking back to the Neymar deal, the subsequent fees and transfers made by clubs from this were outrageous. And this will continue when any £100million+ deal is made. The selling club will look to replace, and then they will be forced to spend big to do so. Football has long gone from survival of the fittest, to survival of the richest, and this is only going to continue.

Winners and Losers

Finally, the last prediction for the next 5 years of football, is that we will see the winners and losers of the global pandemic. In the most part, the Coronavirus lockdown has had a drastic impact on clubs and players around the world, and although the rare few teams have been able to find success during this unique time, many have, and will continue to struggle.

When we talk about winners from the pandemic, we are talking very loosely of ‘winning’, and this refers to the clubs such as Chelsea, who have picked up some bargain transfer buys, rejuvenated their squad with some exciting talent, and been able to do so at a cut-price cost. The £200million that Lampard has splashed, would have cost probably around double had the pandemic not occurred, as other clubs would have competed for some of the big names, whilst clubs would have had less desperation for a quick-sell. Because of this, I would classify Chelsea as a big ‘winner’ from the COVID-19 break. Over the next 5 years, we will see if this benefits them over other clubs, as this is likely to be the most money that Abramovich will be willing to spend to refresh the squad, and he will surely expect some big returns from his investment. Other winners would potentially be Rotherham, Coventry, Swindon, Crewe and Plymouth, all clubs that received automatic promotion as a result of the league 1/2 cancellation. These types of situations have occurred through leagues around the world, and should the clubs be able to cement themselves in the higher tier of football, then they will be seen as major winners from the pandemic. Ultimately, it’s tough to think of anyone winning during these difficult times, but come on let’s be positive.

In contrast, the list of football stakeholders to be considered ‘losers’ from the pandemic is ever-growing, and over the next 5 years the continued impact will continue to effect these clubs, players and fans. We have seen many clubs in the lower echelons face major financial disruption and concern from the loss of income. Unfortunately, should this continue much longer, the EFL have stated that they predict many clubs in the lower leagues to be at ‘crisis point’, and should they not receive any support, they will be unable to continue their operations, putting many, many clubs out of business. In 5 years time, we are at a real risk of losing decades of history and footballing heritage as the clubs we all know and love could be gone forever. Sadly, this isn’t an exaggeration, but a fearful future reality.

I can only apologise for the bleak ending to this post, but really it would have been wrong to talk about the future, and all these big transfers without acknowledging the need of local, community clubs to receive some support or risk disappearing. Can we fix it as fans, not really, but we can hope that those with the power to help and make a difference pull their fingers out, and ‘pay-out to help-out’. We can hope.

Whatever happens to football in 5 years time, it is unpredictable, exciting and fearful. In 2025, football will still be here, it may look different, it may seem different, but we will always have the beautiful game at heart.

In 5 years time, we could be watching Ampadu, with Heung-Min Son shining down over Mee and Capoue.