Management Lessons from football

The world cup football in Brazil is in flow. The entire world is glued to the tournament with an estimated 4 billion people watching the games globally. Even in disadvantaged time zones, like in Asia Pacific, the viewing ratings have been phenomenal. India, despite matches starting at 21.30, 00.30 and 3.30 hrs. has also joined the wave with viewing ratings supposedly higher than many cricket matches. Bleary eyed people, me included, in offices are very common. The world cup hockey, French Open and Wimbledon tennis hardy gets any visibility in the news channels, coffee and pub discussions. Hot topics are the elimination of Spain and England, end of an era in Spanish football, the exciting play of the Dutch and South Americans, the WAG`s, off field activities of different teams, the revolt against the FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Qatar`s successful bid for the 2022 world cup.

As a business manager, I tried to switch my caps as a manager and as a football player and fan to think as to what we can learn from this wave called football especially the from huge tsunami wave called “FIFA world cup” which blows away everybody for almost a month.

I have tried to list some of the lessons below:

1) KISS for global reach  

Keep It Simple Stupid! The FIFA has 209 members and football is the most played and watched game globally. No sport comes near football in terms of popularity. The main reason is that the game basically has a very simple process. Get a ball, a few people and start kicking the ball in a small space to play the game. Compared with other sports like cricket, basketball, hockey, etc. which needs a lot of equipment and bigger space to play, football can be played in a small street corner as well. This explains the emergence of players from poor and downtrodden societies in many impoverished nations especially Brazil and Argentina. The stories of Pele and Maradona, who rose from poor families to become legends, is attributable to the simplicity of the game.

Secondly the game is short and sweet. You just need 90min to finish a game and hence is a spectator`s delight. Thus the sport has a wide reach to all strata of the global society.

2) Customer is the king

The main market for football viewing is in Europe and hence the locations and match timings are adjusted to suit the viewers in Europe. In 1986, even Diego Maradona`s protest against the noon start of the matches in the Mexican heat, fell on deaf ears so as to please the European viewers.

3) No strategy is eternally sustainable

The tiki- taka style of the Spanish made them an almost unbeatable team for the last 6years. They did not bring more innovations to their game and were probably under the pretence that their style was almost unbeatable. However in the last one year or so many opposition coaches have been able to find loopholes in their play. It started with in the Champions league last year and culminated in the Spaniards being thoroughly thrashed in the present world cup.

An another interesting aspect is that over the last 30 years, with the exception of Brazil, the defending champions haven’t performed well in the next edition of the world cup. 1982 & 1986 winners Italy and Argentina respectively managed to scrap though to the pre-quarters and finals in the next editions, France lost in round -1 in 2002, Italy again losing badly in 2010 and of course Spain being humiliated in 2014 edition. The Brazilians, with their flamboyant and innovative style have managed to buck the trend on a whole except for their loss in quarters in 2006.     

4) Superstars alone cannot win matches

Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are superstars in the European leagues and accomplished players in league football. However when it comes to their performances with their respective countries in the world cup it is way below their normal levels. Rooney scored his first goal in 3 appearances only in the 2014 world cup. Ronaldo is marked by opposition teams and if his teammates don’t support him, unlike the Real Madrid team, he is rendered ineffective. Without the support of the other team members in feeding them the passes and a highly supportive coach the superstars’ performances are way below the expectations. Even legends like Pele had supportive teammates like Jairzinho, Garrincha, Torres, Tostao, etc. while Maradona had players like Burruchaga, Cannigia, etc., for support. The classical theory of an organization is that it is a portfolio of activities and similarly the success of a football team depends upon the collective effectiveness of various players on the field.

5) Youngsters rule. Persist with non performing old guard at your own peril.

Football is an high energy game and requires an extraordinary level of stamina and hence players are their peak in their 20`s. Only goal keepers can scale the peak capability levels till their 30`s. Teams need to have a constant pipeline of young players to survive. As Spain discovered, with their key players over 30, their players were jaded and tired and exposed. Many teams refuse to accept this reality and persist with their ageing superstars like Spaniards in the present world cup, Italians in the 2010 world and Brazil in the 2006 world cup. Past performance of these aged superstars is no guarantee for future performances.

6) Survival of the fittest

In some sports like cricket, teams can give a player an extended time and hide them in the team which is not possible in football. Given the high intensity and a focused time limit of 90 minutes all the players on the football field have to be 100% fit else they and the team will be thoroughly exposed. Players either shape up or kicked out.

7) Adoption of technology is inevitable

Despite many howlers of decisions on the missed line goals, FIFA was adamant on not using any technology till the push came to the shove. Many teams would have felt cheated on un-allowed goals due to the lack of technology in the previous tournaments. Adoption of technology will reduce the pressure on the referees and make the game better and fair.

To summarize, I am sure there are many more lessons to be learnt from football and other sports. Many organizations encourage team games to judge and build team building skills in their employees. Probably there might be a correlation that people involved in team sports from an early age become better team managers!

Meanwhile enjoy the World Cup! Adios!