As the domestic programme takes over in Europe, falling attendances and rising prices have become a key issue in the way football will develop in the run up to the FIFA 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.

The fixture congestion caused by clubs having to enter every available competition in order to balance their books, means that already this season players have sustained long term injuries that will rule them out of the finals.

Surely in World Cup year an arrangement could be made between FIFA and all the other football administrators world wide including UEFA, to restrict the amount of matches teams have to play, even offering financial compensation in order to make it happen.

In the UK and in the rest of Europe, teams are not only subjected to a rigorous schedule of games, but are also at the behest of the TV companies whose money they need to survive. The resulting timing of matches is definitely not conducive to entertaining football, hence English Premier league club Chelsea's inability to fill their stadium, Stamford Bridge, to capacity for their last Champions League match.

Elsewhere in the UK, clubs are struggling to bring supporters in, row upon row of empty seats can be seen at many a Premiership ground. Some people suggest that the recent England v Australia Test Cricket series has caused a drop in attendances at Football matches, but the 'Ashes' series is over now, so what is the problem?

Well, quite frankly, ticket prices are astronomic for an average wage earner to go and see football with his kids, secondly, players might earn a fortune, but there is a limit to how many peak performances a player can put in, no matter what type of athlete he is, and thirdly, teams are so desperately worried about relegation, or qualification, that they have begun to play negative football, following the "It's better not to lose" approach.

Hopefully the FIFA 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany will produce wonderful entertainment and rejuvenate a jaded public's interest in, what is after all, 'The Beautiful Game'!

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