Award For The Most Stylish Team In Soccer

 

The Award For The Most Stylish Team In Soccer

My idea is an award for the most stylish team in soccer each year?

When I say style, I mean entertaining fans with skill, attacking, dribbling, passing or other more aesthetically appealing aspects of soccer. I don’t mean who has the best haircut, or who is best looking, or who has the most attractive kit. I also do not mean who has the most exciting private life.

To many football fans, football is not just about winning. It is also about the style of football they perform.

To these people football is an art, that must be judged subjectively.

My idea is that each year a public poll, or panel of experts could vote on who has played the most attractive, entertaining, and stylish football of the year. The award could be on a national and international basis.

I would prefer the award to be 50% public vote, and 50% experts vote.

Some fans prefer that their team plays

beautiful or attacking football, rather than just winning trophies.

The fans of Glasgow Celtic, Newcastle United, West Ham United, and Spurs are often said to prefer attractive or attacking football to winning trophies. This may explain why Newcastle Utd and Tottenham Hotspur have not won as many trophies in recent seasons as teams of a similar size.

Some teams win trophies by playing more boring, or turgid styles of soccer.

This is why I think that teams who play the most attractive attacking or skilful football should be rewarded with an award. So we can remember teams for their style throughout the ages.

But the issue of style can have a positive impact on the team’s finances. Because attracting a domestic or international, support can be helped by the team playing a beautiful style of soccer.

We have all heard of glory hunters. The type of fan who just supports which team is winning the most trophies. But I think there are also glory hunters who choose the most stylish team of the moment, rather than who wins the most. They choose a style that reflects their self-image.
The teams of Jose Mourinho are often not as popular, with fans, as the teams of Alex Ferguson, or Jürgen Klopp have been.

Managers who develop a side that plays attractive football might do better at developing their team into a domestic or global brand than managers who choose winning over style.

How else can it be explained that Barcelona have become the richest team in football? It is not just about winning, it is also about style and skill. Messi and his beautiful play have attracted supporters.

The Klopp Liverpool side has a huge popularity, not just because they win trophies, but also because they play with an attacking style of footy.

The Manchester United team under Alex Ferguson became the best supported side in England, because they played attacking aggressive skilful football, while winning at the same time.

The ultimate for supporters is a team that plays with style and wins tournaments.

But there are teams that play attractive, football but win no trophies.

Remember the Kevin Keegan Newcastle United team of the nineties, that should have won a few trophies. But they were an attractive attacking team.

It is possible to play with a beautiful style and still win games. Take the Brazil team of the Pele era. Take the Barcelona side under Pep Guardiola. Also take the Spain team that won the World Cup in 2010.

Manchester United under Alex Ferguson. Arsenal in the late nineties and early 2000’s.

Other teams that won with style include; Glasgow Celtic in the 1967 European Cup.

Aberdeen under Alex Ferguson in the eighties.

Real Madrid in the fifties.

There are also mirror images of this. Of teams that won with a style of football, that upset opposition fans and in some cases even their own fans.

Arsenal in the late eighties and early nineties had a reputation for playing a style of football that was regarded as turgid by some opposition fans. This was so much the case that opposition fans would commonly sing, ‘Boring, boring. Arsenal.’

Arsenal fans proudly replied with their own era defining chant, ‘1-0 to the Arsenal.’ This was because Arsenal had a very strong defence at the time.  

I would prefer to go further with this prize, and not just award the award to the team that win with style. I would advise the award to go to any team that plays with entertainment as their key. Even if they are relegated, or lose games with big defeats.

As entertaining the fans, with attacking beautiful football should be rewarded with an award for playing the game with style as their philosophy.

There could also be an individual award.

Once again this award would go to the player who entertains the fans. Once again I am not talking about haircuts or private life. I am talking about a player, who plays super skilful, entertaining football like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pele, Diego Maradona, George Best, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Bale, Figo  Kenny Dalglish, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, George Weah, Jim Baxter, Garrincha, Ronaldinho, Denis Law, Jimmy Johnstone, Michel Platini, Paul Gascoigne, I would also add the Brazilian Ronaldo to that list. Plus I would add from the women’s game the skilful Brazilian player Marta Vieira da Silva, and the Dutch soccer player Lieke Martens.

I have to be honest. Football to me is mainly about winning. I would rather my team won with the most boring, tedious style of football you can imagine, if it meant they won trophies. As a matter of fact I would even find it quite funny if my team won with such defensive ugliness, that they became hated on an international scale.

But lots of fans and clubs honestly, and sincerely see style as more important. They would rather see their team go without trophies, and play attacking stylish football.

Let us award those fans, and clubs, for their sincerity, and honesty, with an award for the most beautiful style of playing the beautiful game. For me the most beautiful style of team, of all time, was the Spain team that won the 2010 World Cup. But who played the best style of football is subjective just like art.

This award would not even be like figure skating or ballroom dancing, where there is a set of clear criteria, that judges weigh on. This award would be like an art award. A purely subjective decision.

By the way this is not like the Fair Play Award. The Fair Play Award is given to teams for their superior morality, or self sacrifice.

My award idea is about who is playing the game of soccer with an entertaining appealing style. Fashions changes. What is stylish to one generation is not so stylish to another.