SOCCER IN LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 

Soccer is the most played sport around the world and it influences the lives of a lot of people around the world. Both fortunate and unfortunate people use soccer to empower their lives so analyzing the effects or contribution of soccer in people's life is very important. Some people are well equipped with all the necessary equipment to perform in the beautiful game but others, the less fortunate, are not equipped with all of the necessary equipment needed to participate in soccer games.  The game of soccer requires a lot of financial support and for some people, financial problems are the main reasons why they do not excel in soccer. The motive of this blog is to find ways to use soccer to empower the lives of people in lesser developed countries and to what extent will it be beneficial to the international community. 

According to the sport and development organization, research shows that investment into sport in developing countries is much less than in developed countries, as sport development is usually not a top priority in the national budget or in the education system of most developing countries which also means that there are fewer prospects for athletes to continue their sport training or pursue professional sport careers in a developing country. In turn, the lack of talent-building opportunities in a developing country leads to less return on the little investment put into local talent, further debilitating local sport development structures and sport career pathways. What does this mean? This means that a lot of talent is been wasted due to financial struggles in developing countries and which in turn leads to a lot of negative effects. Some of the negative effects due to this struggle to the international community is that, some talented young kids will not have a chance to develop and exploit their talent due to these struggles. Another negative effect is that the talented kids would have helped the economy of their developing country by putting them under the spotlight but since the government doesn't pay attention to the sport sector, young talented athletes will not be able to help their country. Less developed countries are unable to utilize the talent of their strong performers and/or tend to lose them to more powerful nations in global sport. Sport regulated by global processes can thus contribute to the underdevelopment of a developing country’s talent. 

 The sport and development organization also claims that " In developing countries, players are either enrolled in official clubs linked to the national soccer association or they play for non-affiliated sports associations. For non-affiliated players, their only chance of obtaining an international transfer deal is through the informal and often clandestine networks of player agents, forming an underground labor market in soccer." It is possible that the player’s situation does not improve upon arrival in a European country – in the worst case, those players under the age of eighteen and who are unsuccessful in being recruited onto a European team, often find themselves without a work contract or even a return ticket to their home country. Soccer associations do not receive payment for the international transfer of non-affiliated players. The transfer fees for foreign players from developing countries to European clubs are so low that they barely cover the education and training costs of the transferred player in their country of origin.  The question now is, what can we do to prevent these disasters from happening and how can we help young talented soccer athletes exploit their talent. For one, the government has to realize the benefits of investing money on young talented athletes and use them to benefit their economy and the strength of their national government financially afterwards. According to the united Nations, local industries and a local sports sector may emerge should the events generate enough interest as to attract people willing to attend the event and purchase products and services associated with the event. At the local level, a ‘virtuous cycle’ can be created, in which sports-related services are provided, creating jobs and opportunities to upgrade skills and produce further services and products – a positive ‘spill-over’ effect from local sports events. To begin, it has been suggested that local communities build their own skills, to be followed by developing skills that are specific and relevant to their community’s social environment and local context. Local communities can then use their own capacities to organize the event, showcasing the community’s abilities in progressively gaining recognition in the region and internationally. 

Sports especially like soccer will be a great tool to help developing countries to strengthen their government and the influence they have on other nations. Soccer is for sure the most popular sports so using it to empower lives is a fantastic method for both the young talented athletes, the community, and especially the national government. 

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