1. Big Money's Influence
With the exception of racism, all of the major issues in the game are stemming from one root cause: money. The introduction and influence of big money in the sport has greatly damaged its purity and sincerity for a good deal of fans and external commenters. Match fixing, corruption among officials, and doping are all done for financial gain, with players and referees making money if certain results occur, because unfortunately, money talks too loudly in the beautiful game. Nations and private companies can gain immense economic boons from earning the right to host tournaments or building projects, and doctors and clubs stand to gain incredible profit if performance enhancing drugs boost players performances. If you follow the money, you follow the problems. Only racism, a cultural and social issue, can be considered out of the influence of money in the context of this specific list. Even further, no longer is it required for a club to build a team by developing young players through youth academies - all you need is a rich investor to push millions of Euros or Pounds towards purchasing the best players. You dont have to work or develop anything, the game's rewards can simple be bought, pushing the game's oldest fans away from top level sport out of disgust, which is arguably as damaging as the corruption side of money issues. Do you feel the game is in crisis and if so, what should be done about it?