Film Project
Football - Who owns the game
A 70-minute documentary about the commercialization of soccer. Or why cultural areas of life must not be determined by capitalist maxims. Hot on the heels of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Putting human lives at risk for a soccer tournament? Destroyed club cultures by profit-oriented investors? The displacement of low-income groups from soccer stadiums? Welcome to the reality of modern soccer! A reality that the fans of the “most beautiful pastime in the world” do not want to accept. A reality that needs change.
“Football is not just about who has the best players and wins. It's about much more.” (Manu Deset)
Our soccer belongs to the fans!
The story
Manuela and Sebastian, two Viennese soccer fans, explore the threat to their emotionally charged habitat, the soccer pitch, in “Our Football”. In 70 minutes, they document the rapid commercialization of soccer in recent decades.
For many years now, the two have had to grudgingly recognize that the social “cultural space of the soccer stadium” is also being increasingly penetrated by the capitalist interests of limitless growth and short-term profit. A constant increase in stadium prices to increase club turnover, international consumers instead of local fans in the focus of decision-makers or the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to a desert country with slave-like working conditions. This is the new reality of modern soccer! If you want to continue to enjoy sporting success in this system, you apparently have to increasingly bow to the rules of capital.
In interviews with players and club officials from their respective clubs, with fans from Salzburg and Hanover as well as a journalist and the managing director of Amnesty International Austria, the protagonists set out in search of traces of this rampant commercialization, because one thing is clear to them: they no longer want to stand idly by and watch this development. Soccer belongs to passion, spontaneous emotions and fans from all walks of life. Football belongs to all of us, and we are taking it back!
The film crew
Director: Marlene Mayer | DoP: Tom Rossipaul | Sounddesign: Stefan Vogl | Voice Over: Adam Niederkorn
Contributers: Manu Deset, Sebastian Nadlinger, Philipp Dimov, Thorsten Schick, Andy Marek, David Krapf-Günther, Lukas Matzinger, Annemarie Schlack, Roly, Robin Krakau, David Koblmüller, Kurt Koblmüller, Felix Kreinecker, Raphael Fuchs, Lukas Simon Schwaninger, Paul Spindler, Christoph Pichler, Valentin Kirchweger, David Fellner, Paulina Lobozewicz, Gabriel Winkelmüller, Mara Sikora