The Absence of Governance: The Other Face of Football Management
Every football season, the same scene replays: teams collapsing financially, others overwhelmed by organizational chaos, and officials raising slogans of professionalism while drowning in amateurism. It seems as if Moroccan football is destined to remain a vast arena of improvisation, where teams are run by emotions and loyalties more than by logic and planning.
Discussing governance in Moroccan football has become akin to a joke that the audience laughs at before it ends. Governance cannot thrive in an environment ruled by favoritism, mismanagement, and incompetence. How can we believe that a team advocating for “professionalism” does not even know how to manage its budget, is mired in disputes, or plans a sports season without recurring crises?
Most of our teams operate amid chaotic management: presidents come and go at will, general assemblies are held to suit individual interests, budgets are spent without scrutiny, and debts accumulate to the point of threatening even the most historic clubs. Meanwhile, some officials make statements justifying failures by blaming refereeing, luck, or “circumstances,” as if the problem lies with the game rather than the head managing it.
What is truly missing is a systematic approach; long-term vision is substituted with reactive daily policies. There is no clear training plan, no robust institutional structure, no genuine sports investment project. How can we speak of professionalism when we do not even possess a culture of accountability? How can we aspire for strong championships while managing our teams with a “hobbyist” mentality and claiming to be professionals?
The absence of sports governance is not a coincidence but a result of years of normalized chaos. When a position within a club becomes a means for social status or an electoral platform, it is unrealistic to expect a successful sports project. When transparency is lacking, competencies are sidelined, and decisions are monopolized, the outcome is bound to be: bankrupt teams, frustrated players, and angry fans who find only the stands to vent their disappointment.
Football is not just a game; it is an industry and an institution that requires real governance: planning, oversight, transparency, and investment in training. What we are experiencing today is merely chaos dressed up in slogans of professionalism and managed with a coffee shop mentality.
