When mostly ladies who have no interest in what they describe to be a bunch of men running around and chasing a piece of inflated leather (soccer) give it no more than a passing thought, what they don’t realize is that there’s a whole lot to any sporting code than what they see on television. There’s a whole lot more to it than just a bunch of over-paid sportspersons who are referred to as professionals in what they do.

Sports is a huge business with a mere soccer team employing nothing short of an army of personnel to operate the various aspects which come together to make up the business. I specifically chose soccer because it only really enjoys somewhat of a relative popularity in this part of the world, so if the numbers surrounding this relatively unpopular sporting code are that big then you can only imagine how much bigger the business of sports gets when you take the likes of football, basketball and baseball into consideration.

The players

Generally speaking and on average, a professional soccer player earns a lot more money than someone who works a regular nine-to-five job for which they perhaps even hold a college degree. Don’t get me started on the salary packages of some of the highest paid of these soccer players who are identified as the stars of their teams…

One might be inclined to think that the players are the highest earners of a typical professional team structure, which is true enough, but what it brings to light is how much the organization (the team) itself generates in revenue and profits if it can afford to pay its working personnel so much money. Granted, the typical soccer team (things get a lot grander with international football team franchises) very well could be the pet-project of some billionaire or hyper rich conglomerate, but this still takes nothing away from the colossal amounts of money which flow through the organization.

The management

In European football you’d get some sort of official figure who is referred to as the manager of the club and that’s what they are. They manage the playing personnel, in many instances organizing logistical arrangements beyond the field of play. I.e. they are in charge of more than just coming up with tactics and managing the team during a game from the sidelines. They usually also take care of issues such as where the team is going to camp if they’re playing an away game, when they’re going to have their meals, etc.

The assistant manager is often the actual coach who would take the players through their paces with drills, tactics and other details discussed with the manager, etc.

Backroom staff

All manner of positions are filled to make up the remainder of the operations which come together to make up a professional sports team, from the kit man to board members, from cleaners to a marketing team and everything in between, including the likes of a team doctor, nutritionist, etc.

There’s a whole lot more to sports than what you see on television, with most of the money coming in the form of sponsorships and the likes of some TV rights deals.