One of the main criticisms that many people have about sport, and football in particular, is the level of money in the game. Everything revolves around money to the point that the actual game being played often appears to be a side issue. But sometimes events happen that show it is possible to be successful on a limited budget.
Tonight is the start of the quarter final matches in the UEFA Champions' League which sees Real Madrid playing Apoel Nicosia.
Who? I hear you ask, which is much the same response my wife gave when I mentioned it to her.
Tonight is the start of the quarter final matches in the UEFA Champions' League which sees Real Madrid playing Apoel Nicosia.
Who? I hear you ask, which is much the same response my wife gave when I mentioned it to her.
Apoel Nicosia are the current champions of Cyprus and have so far had an amazing run in this year's Champions' League, progressing against Skënderbeu Korçë (Albania), Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia), Wisła Kraków (Poland), F.C. Porto (Portugal), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia) and Lyon (France), earning the right to take on one of the biggest clubs in the world, Spain's Real Madrid.
But what makes this journey so amazing is that Apoel have an annual budget to run their entire football club of just £8.5m. That's it. £8.5m. To run any large business, £8.5m is peanuts. And that is to include player transfers, wages for players, employment of coaches and other support staff, maintaining their ground, and all other costs. To put that in to context, their opponents tonight Real Madrid paid Manchester United almost ten times that amount (£80m) to buy Cristiano Ronaldo three years ago, and on top of that, £8.5m is about the same that Real Madrid spend on Ronaldo's wages each year. Yet tonight the two teams face each other as equals.
It’s also worth pointing out that the prize money that Apoel receive for reaching the quarter finals tonight is about £2.5m, plus a percentage of the television and ticket revenue.
It would be no surprise to learn that Real Madrid are the odds on favourites to win tonight, but there are many people hoping that Apoel can apply the same level of skill behind their financial nous to their performance on the pitch and show, that it’s not all about the money and success in sport is possible with little cash.
UPDATE
It turned out to be as expected, with Real Madrid winning the first leg 3-0, and the second leg at the Bernabeu is likely to be a similar result. However Apoel put up a very spirited fight and it is still an incredible journey for the Cypriot club, showing what can be acheived with such a small budget.
But what makes this journey so amazing is that Apoel have an annual budget to run their entire football club of just £8.5m. That's it. £8.5m. To run any large business, £8.5m is peanuts. And that is to include player transfers, wages for players, employment of coaches and other support staff, maintaining their ground, and all other costs. To put that in to context, their opponents tonight Real Madrid paid Manchester United almost ten times that amount (£80m) to buy Cristiano Ronaldo three years ago, and on top of that, £8.5m is about the same that Real Madrid spend on Ronaldo's wages each year. Yet tonight the two teams face each other as equals.
It’s also worth pointing out that the prize money that Apoel receive for reaching the quarter finals tonight is about £2.5m, plus a percentage of the television and ticket revenue.
It would be no surprise to learn that Real Madrid are the odds on favourites to win tonight, but there are many people hoping that Apoel can apply the same level of skill behind their financial nous to their performance on the pitch and show, that it’s not all about the money and success in sport is possible with little cash.
UPDATE
It turned out to be as expected, with Real Madrid winning the first leg 3-0, and the second leg at the Bernabeu is likely to be a similar result. However Apoel put up a very spirited fight and it is still an incredible journey for the Cypriot club, showing what can be acheived with such a small budget.
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