What will football be like in... Years

[Ewok vs Wolf]

Really not much to think about during the international break so i was thinking earlier in the week what football might be like in say 10, 20 years time. I was going to say 30 years time but then realised i would be 80 years old.. Anyway..

Some topics i thought about:
VAR/tech: How far can people see technology going? A time there will be no ref or officials? VAR scrapped at some point?

European Super League: Is this inevitable at some point?

Premiership games. no 3pm kick offs on a Saturday. Premier league games played abroad?

Finance: Will we see more teams go down the route of Bury and Bolton?
Do the big tv deals end at some point? Will the bubble ever burst or will we see a billion pound transfer fee for a player?

The game itself: Do you ever see a time where tackling, heading the ball, is banned?

Are you enjoying football as much as you were say 10 years ago compared to now? Do you see your love for football draining away in the future?

 

[Pagey]

I can see the Premier League launching its own match streaming service.

Every Premier league match in 1 place, available to watch any time at circa £15 a month.

You will be able to choose any camera angle, eg, you want a view from behind the goal in the south bank, you can select it and instead of commentary, you can switch and soak up the atmosphere, through your tv.

 

[Rufio]

I hate international breaks

 

[Miniwolf]

I can see the Premier League launching its own match streaming service.

Every Premier league match in 1 place, available to watch any time at circa £15 a month.

You will be able to choose any camera angle, eg, you want a view from behind the goal in the south bank, you can select it and instead of commentary, you can switch and soak up the atmosphere, through your tv.

I can see it now... player cam

 

[Ewok vs Wolf]

I think there was a player cam on Sky some years ago

 

[Miniwolf]

I think there was a player cam on Sky some years ago

I think there was something where you could watch a specific player, I was thinking more a mini camera in a players shirt for example, watch the game from their view on the pitch

 

[Leominster_Wolf]

I think there was something where you could watch a specific player, I was thinking more a mini camera in a players shirt for example, watch the game from their view on the pitch

They should all wear a 1980’s Steve foster style headband with a GoPro attached

 

[Ginger Chimp]

Really not much to think about during the international break so i was thinking earlier in the week what football might be like in say 10, 20 years time. I was going to say 30 years time but then realised i would be 80 years old.. Anyway..

Some topics i thought about:
VAR/tech: How far can people see technology going? A time there will be no ref or officials? VAR scrapped at some point?

European Super League: Is this inevitable at some point?

Premiership games. no 3pm kick offs on a Saturday. Premier league games played abroad?

Finance: Will we see more teams go down the route of Bury and Bolton?
Do the big tv deals end at some point? Will the bubble ever burst or will we see a billion pound transfer fee for a player?

The game itself: Do you ever see a time where tackling, heading the ball, is banned?

Are you enjoying football as much as you were say 10 years ago compared to now? Do you see your love for football draining away in the future?

Stadiums. Empty.

 

[WW1963]

Not at all convinced football (or any sport) will even be a thing in fifty years time.

 

[bilstonwolf]

Not at all convinced football (or any sport) will even be a thing in fifty years time.

It might be crap, but football will always exist

 

[Pagey]

ROLLERBALL, from 1975, now thats a sport coming to a stadium near you in the 2050s

 

[Brizzlewolf]

FIFA 2060

 

[Woodsetton Wolf]

Football participation in children is on the decline, who knows what it will be like in 20 years. Judging by the fat epidemic this country has, it’s only going to get worse.

Smaller pool of talent to select from, wont be good for the English based players.

 

[oldgolded]

With the introduction of VAR I can only see the game becoming more mechanised and dominated by technology. Can easily see games being played without referees in the not too distant future. Will become more and more like watching a computer game.

 

[tipton81]

I think there was something where you could watch a specific player, I was thinking more a mini camera in a players shirt for example, watch the game from their view on the pitch

This is a great shout, printed electronics are already at the stage where devices are small enough for this kind of thing, wearable technology will be ubiquitous in 10 years

Wearables on the player
VR headset for the fan

Immersive, you could be ‘on the pitch’

 

[tipton81]

Not at all convinced football (or any sport) will even be a thing in fifty years time.

How come?

 

[The Wolf In The North]

The technology juggernaut will roll on. Inside five years I can see sensors in players' boots along the same lines as sensors in the ball for goal-line tech, utilised for tracking offsides (boot sensors in relation to ball position, triggering an alert if ahead of ball, etc). And, yes, VR facilities in stadiums to provide an immersive experience for the home audience.

On more of a downbeat note, I can also see a serious incident somewhere sooner rather than later, most likely at a World Cup, in terms of terrorist activity or something chemical, or a player getting badly injured or worse because of the crowd. I'm actually amazed it hasn't happened already. This will result in stricter stadium security, and could lead to a locked-in top flight domestically, where only the clubs with the best and most secure stadiums are allowed to compete. Sometimes you look at football troubles, especially in Eastern Europe, and wonder how some nutjobs haven't already tried to make a statement in the name of a cause by catastrophic means.

I think a lot of professional clubs will go to the wall in the next ten years, and we could see smaller leagues or just three main divisions.

One day I think we'll see the introduction of a financial credits system for clubs, with money and contracts becoming effectively meaningless. Clubs will have x amount of credits to spend each year on transfers, to create an illusion of parity and fairness, with players point-ranked like in a computer game, but underneath it will be just as unbalanced because wage structures will be so murky.

 

[Deleted member 4456]

****, most probably.

 

[OLDGOLD]

How come?

Probably because the poster likes to have a little stir on occasion.....

 

[Wolf86]

Torrevieja Spain already have the main man up in lights

 

[wolvesultra]

****

 

[Arky_R]

robots

 

[themanwhobuiltthemoon]

Women playing in the men's game. It will happen.

 

[wolvesultra]

Women playing in the men's game. It will happen.

Hope it does, if they're good enough let them play!

Better than the inferior womens game being pushed on us/subsidised. Or silly demands for equal pay for completely unequal standards of football.

 

[themanwhobuiltthemoon]

Hope it does, if they're good enough let them play!

Better than the inferior womens game being pushed on us/subsidised. Or silly demands for equal pay for completely unequal standards of football.

Indeed. Didn't mean it negatively in any way. I just think it will, given the way the world keeps turning and strives for equality.

 

[IrchyWolf]

Goals with posts set at the six yard box intersections with the deadball line.
Eighteen yard area to become a semicircle.
No offsides.
No penalty kicks, but direct free kicks from the position of the foul with all other players outside the area bar the keeper and the fouled/ last person to play the ball before a handball.
No ref on the pitch but overhead cameras.
35 minute halves, with clocks that countdown and stop when the ball's not in play.
25 man squads with unlimited substitutions during a match.
All defenders to have artificial limbs which are detachable during play.
Heading to be outlawed because of the long term health risks. Balls to be lighter still.
If a player is fouled a free kick only to be granted if they make the traditional mandatory appeal of a triple somersault to signal it.
No crowds in stadia as everyone will be watching on 3D viewtubes at home.
All team names to incorporate the name of their sponsors.
Teams to possess a separate home and away strip for each and every competition they enter.
Player ejections to be voted upon in realtime by viewers at home. Thus it matters not how serious the foul but how stylish the foul was and how popular the team and player.
Television executives to be in control of the customs and traditions of the game.

Than God I'll be in the grave.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Not at all convinced football (or any sport) will even be a thing in fifty years time.

I can see football reverting to the pre technology game we love. It's why boxing is so popular. Sport at the bare bones is what people really like to see.

 

[paulhick]

Women playing in the men's game. It will happen.

Definitely as the game is becoming less and less physical.
Offsides scrapped too as it will become pathetically hard to judge to the last millimetre now with var.

 

[WolfLing]

It won't be long before it will all be digitalised.

A panel of pundits and scouts decide the result of each game based on the strength of each team.

Each fan then watches a sped-up digital simulation of each game on the screen in their seat. Every goal is still cheered, albeit with a 5 minute delay once all the necessary checks have been made via the simulation.

The beauty of this is that an entire season can be shortened to just a month, vastly increasing advertising revenues.

With no playing commitments, the club's Marketing Professionals (players) are also free to appear in campaigns 7 days a week, improving their Social Media presence and earning the club and their image rights companies millions.

 

[clivewolves]

It probably will happen eventually, but I don't want women playing in men's football. If somebody wants to set up a unisex league then they should do that.

 

[derbyrameater]

A football version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

 

[topcat99]

I hate international breaks

Me too. But this one feels like a rest

 

[Andy]

Football won't exist but soccer will thrive.

Celtic will win the World Series of Soccer eight years out of ten.

 

[Leominster_Wolf]

Football won't exist but soccer will thrive.

Celtic will win the World Series of Soccer eight years out of ten.

Miss, miss........ he said the C word!!!!

 

[Lisas Husband]

Me too. But this one feels like a rest

It does.

 

[Lisas Husband]

It probably will happen eventually, but I don't want women playing in men's football. If somebody wants to set up a unisex league then they should do that.

Why? If the women are as good as the men then it can only add to the game surely?

 

[lostwolf]

*miserable old ******* alert

I don't enjoy football anywhere near as much as I did 20 years ago, even with our revival. I hate VAR (**** it), I don't like total foreign ownership, the atmosphere is more sterile (although it hasn't been great since the Taylor report), it's too difficult to casually acquire tickets, the English game is technically far superior but somehow less exciting for me, and the grounds are gradually losing their character. But then I'm a curmudgeonly ******* on the best of days.

My honest hope is that it all goes tits up financially in English football and we end up with something like the German model. Of course it won't though, and so I see myself going less frequently. Last season, unable to sit/stand with friends and finding games boring, I ended up leaving early several times and bobbing off to the pub. This included Everton away and even almost Wet Spam away whicb I watched on the tele from the bar, when i was glad i didn't in the end!

 

[ricki herberts moustache]

I'm looking forward to the day that it is considered sexist to field an all male team and that every team will have a quota for females, disabled people, gays and transgenders with extra bonus points for fielding a player in the wheel chair.

you may laugh but I don't think I am too far from the truth...

 

[jrpb-3]

refs and linesmen will be replaced with an AI bot that can watch all the footage from all angles and make decisions in real time, will start by replacing VAR panel, then replace refs all together.

Can see the no televised games at 3:00 Saturday rules going and all games being available to watch which might finally mean ticket prices to actual games comes don ( but don't hold your breath)

 

[RMNottm]

ROLLERBALL, from 1975, now thats a sport coming to a stadium near you in the 2050s

At junior school in 70s tried playing version. Get ball twice round centre circle then in to a bin in centre spot. No other rules. Lots of ripped clothes lasted one break!