The win over Inter in Istanbul was the latest crown jewel for the Abu Dhabi-based owners of Manchester City. Victory in the world’s most exciting club competition gave them the prestige and recognition they have invested in acquiring during the 15 years they owned the club in light blue east Manchester.

Manchester City, who are the city’s eternal younger brother and were level 3 in England when city rivals United became the first English club to win the treble in 1999.

At that time, Ole Gunnar Solskjær inscribed himself into folklore as the winner of the extra time match in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich. This season, Erling Braut Haaland has rewritten all the history books of football long before the relevant final is reached.
Haaland came to City to win the Champions League. City won the Champions League.

Job well done, as they say in the homeland of football.

At prices that until recently were thought to be reserved for the imagination.

Money rules the world

There too, the past week has changed our world view.

Aging stars such as Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante have signed for the Saudi Arabian club on multi-billion dollar salaries. And no one knows how far this could go.

Football as we know it is in a state of complete change. And most frustratingly: No one seems to have the means or power to direct development.

Big petroleum funds took control. And they do it with money. The world is indeed that simple. Simple – and currently not at all clear.

A question of power

When the United Arab Emirates, of which City owns, Saudi Arabia and Qatar invest heavily in football, golf and other sports, it is often called “sport laundering”. But the term is on its way to being picked up by inflation. Because there’s so much more. It is a matter of power, influence and position. In football of course, but also in the world.

Sport has become a means to a greater end. And Erling Braut Haaland, Viktor Hovland and other stars are most of all paid pieces in this game.

And it worked. So as far as it works.

To buy sports

This week, the oil nations of the Middle East are having their biggest week yet in the sporting arena.

First through the great peace of golf, where the two major tournaments PGA and LIV decided to end their internal war and prefer to work together to move forward.

The Saudi Arabian Petroleum Fund, which owns the LIV tour, has thus effectively assumed control of golf’s further development, sporting and commercial.

And all those players who turned down the fantasy sum to announce a transition from the traditional PGA tour to LIV for reasons of principle, were disappointed.

Shooting star Tiger Woods himself is said to have been offered over NOK 8 billion just to participate there.

Our own star Viktor Hovland has also been offered a large sum of money to announce the transfer, but he has also declined.

Now these two and others who have protested against the manipulation of the Saudi regime no longer have a choice, absurd enough.

Despite the constant protests from human rights organizations and descendants after 9/11, Saudi Arabia was suspected of supporting the terrorists.

Just one year after starting their own golf tournament, Saudi Arabia effectively rules the entire sport.

This certainly adds to the taste. To take over a bigger part of football. Or simply take control of multiple sports, whether it’s tennis, boxing, Formula 1 or something else.

As mentioned, it’s about the money. And the desire to use it.

Manchester City’s success in the Champions League will certainly be a stronger motivation.

New age

This is the first major win in the biggest and most prestigious sport for the owner of the Arabian Peninsula.

That’s how football stepped into a new era this Saturday night in Istanbul, when the world’s best club team finally won the world’s most important club team tournament.

IN THEin isolation, they deserve it too. In the 15 years that Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour has been owner, Manchester City have elevated themselves to new heights of sporting prowess under Catalan manager Pep Guardiola.

The question of which method to use on the street remains unanswered.

Last winter, the Premier League brought a list of 115 charges against the club. It took years before a conclusion was reached. And it will never come down to depriving the club of any of the titles they have won in this period, which may be the only thing that has made a real impression.

The feeling that the states of the Arabian Peninsula are the new power base in international sport. And that accusation of widespread human rights abuses at home is increasingly easy to ignore.

The cheers drowned out everything. If you are not so careless that you end up as a woman, homosexual or oppositionist in one of the states mentioned above. Who rules the world’s best golf and soccer teams.

Copy and dystopia

The city is not historic in Istanbul. They just copy. Until next. City’s last hurdle will be the Champions League. Now there are no further restrictions.

115 charge or not.

In the new era, the football team is gaining respect and admiration. But not the unconditional love of football fans was ever built. The football team and its players have become a product. Something you choose – and choose when you want to continue.

Loyalty is to money and opportunity, as the PGA and their boss Jay Monahan have shown to some extent this week.

This is the future of world sport. At the time the city-loving Gallagher brothers also vowed to reunite their band Oasis in a triple rush.

It’s not enough to make someone happy.

But it also provides an opportunity for soundtracks for the future. Then it’s up to the individual whether to Let it be, Who feels the love? or Do not look back with regret.

Football is dead. Live a new football.