Judging by Chelsea’s lack of midfield bite in the injury induced absence of Ngolo Kante, fans can only dream about what the team could produce by slotting prime Michael Essien or Claude Makelele in front of Kalidou Koulibaly, Thiago Silva and Wesley Fofana.
By envisaging this sort of combo, it looks and sounds good to have Harry Kane and Aleksandar Mitrovic line up in the front line for the English Premier League South Team. It is the same feeling that is bound to be evoked when Mohammed Salah and Erling Haaland team up for EPL North Team.
However, the all too obvious question since this idea was suggested by Todd Boehly is, how feasible is this idea in real time? Aston Villa Manager Steven Gerrard has backed the idea of an All Star Game and even going further stated he would have “loved” to play in such a game.
On the flip side, Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp flat out rejected the idea of an All Star Game pointing to the tight schedule of EPL players. Ironically, Liverpool is owned by Americans but that didn’t stop Klopp from shooting down the concept of putting together the Premier League’s biggest stars for a charitable cause.
Boehly is the face of Chelsea’s American ownership group and he makes very sound arguments for the All Star Game to become a fixture in the league but a handful of reasons make the All Star Game difficult to execute and sustain long term.
Competition is everything in football
The main reason the UEFA Nations League was created was to solve the issue of noncompetitive games played out during international windows. Risking player’s careers over needless friendly games wasn’t a good sell but incentivizing such games in a sporting way by creating the Nations League made playing such games worth it. The All Star Game won’t be played in a competitive manner and while that is likely not to be an issue, years down the line it will be a problem and the game will struggle to sell.
The NFL’s version of the All Star Game-the Pro Bowl-has struggled with this for years as players are wary of injuries. That aside, the Pro Bowl comes off as a prelude to the Super Bowl-the final game of the NFL-rendering it a high profile pickup game and nothing more. While the NBA All Star Game is a lead name in this space, the noncompetitive nature of the Game is a better sell since the All Star Game leads to fancy dribbles, elite dunks and eye catching long range shooting.
Conveniently, Boehly cited Major League Baseball (MLB) All Star Game to get his point across in his interview. However, the MLB All Star format doesn’t entail much in the way of high level physical contact to raise any major concerns of injuries.
Bad Timing
The timing of Boehly’s fine idea is poor considering the deep wounds inflicted on football fans by the serious intent of some of Europe’s biggest clubs to create a breakaway league dubbed the Super League. What many considered a “money grab” and selfish move by leaders of such clubs was quickly snuffed out but the scars remain and any move that smells like another overly money induced move without concern for player safety won’t be welcomed.
Having an American lead this charge makes it difficult to sell since the sender of the message is compromised somewhat through no fault of his to be honest. There is already resentment in the EPL over the influx of investors from America who are profit driven and don’t, at least on face value, have an interest in the sheer sporting side of it the same way fans see the sport.
All Star Player international fixture filled absences
Football is played across confederations that have various competitions unique to the demography and in the disappointing case of Africa, the weather is also a factor. Due to the EPL’s immense popularity and financial power, it attracts players who compete for their nations in these confederations. The variety in competition formats makes it difficult to have a safe space to fix the All Star Game which in turn is likely to affect player participation in the All Star Game.
In the long term, consistent top star player absences could end up ruining the beauty of the Games and eventually see it die off. The AFCON is played in January so hosting the All Star Game in December during the winter break isn’t an appealing prospect for a top African star like Mohammed Salah, Koulibaly or Mohammed Salisu. Picking up an injury and getting ruled out of the AFCON because of an All Star Game isn’t a risk worth taking.
Fixing the All Star Game as a preseason game, comes with its fair share of problems since the Copa America takes place in June and the top stars will be on holiday at the time of Boehly’s “Baby”. Players like Allison, Ederson, Lisandro Martinez and Gabriel Jesus would make the All Star Game but won’t be available to play after featuring for national teams in the Copa.
While the Euros take place every four years, a World Cup is sandwiched in between two Euros that eats into top players’ holiday period. Such players are likely to absent themselves from the All Star Game.
Since the EPL sits atop the world’s club football pyramid, a successful run of the special Game is likely to be copied by other leagues but the aforementioned reasons plus other reasons make the All Star Game a tough sell.