Out and about: Football is a business better settled off the pitch

A few years back Dubai played host to an event called ‘Soccerex'. A brainchild of Duncan Revie, the son of the late Don Revie — one-time coach of Leeds United and England — Soccerex was meant to give football a universal platform and voice. No, not so much for the actual playing of the game, but rather, the business of the sport, off the pitch.

For six full years Soccerex made Dubai its home and as promised by Revie, the best of the best descended here to give voice to their take on the beautiful game. As a fresher in his post as Fifa President Sepp Blatter graced the occasion once and spoke of how the sport is first played off the field rather than on it.

What happened over a period of time is that people involved in football began to believe in its huge potential as a business. Dato Peter Velappan, the then President of the Asian Football Confederation termed Asia as the "future of the world", something that Mohammad Bin Hammam of Qatar successfully managed to behold as the AFC motto.

The interest in the region grew. Agents descended with their players here. Suddenly, there was a bigger frontier called the Arabian Gulf. A few years back, Revie allowed Soccerex to move its base — first to South Africa keeping the Fifa World Cup in mind, and currently operating from its home in London.

But what he had started is now bearing fruit. It is not unusual for people in the country to read and sometimes hear about the exploits of some great players here — Asamoah Gyan from Ghana or Luca Toni from Italy. Or for that matter even some coaches — Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga who manages Al Nasr and possibly one of the greatest players to have touched a football — the legendary Diego Maradona, who manages Al Wasl.

After weeks of haggling with his employers Maradona has at last put a lid on all speculations regarding his future in Dubai. He has decided he will honour his contract with the Zabeel outfit and stay till the end of the season.

No doubt, there will be more speculations to follow with regards his future here. The move to stay on has once again proved that football indeed is a business that is settled outside the pitch rather than on it!