Football Looks After Its Talent. Can Media Say the Same?

By Nick Walters, Chief Strategy Officer, SuperAwesome

Lamine Yamal won the World Cup. IShowSpeed also won the World Cup.

One of them had some help.

Yamal is part of a generationally successful system founded on nurturing talent at every level of the sport in Spain. Spain lack the breakout superstar talent of a Messi, a Ronaldo, or even, and as an England fan I whisper this, a Kane. But embedded throughout the nation’s coaching culture, national team and club academies there’s a shared commitment to nurturing the next generation of stars with a shared football philosophy.

Paired with that commitment to excellence is something else: player welfare. Barcelona’s La Masia programme, for example, emphasises not just technical excellence but the personal development of players, covering everything from nutrition to academics and mental health.

The result? A generation of players who grew up gifted but also – as far as one can tell – well rounded, nurtured by a system that might not have been altruistic, but at least recognised a shared long term interest in players being supported in the pursuit of performance.

Now consider IShowSpeed. Also, indubitably, a World Cup Winner. His World Cup live stream racked up a scarcely credible 57m views, nearly 50% more than the official broadcast from Fox.

Speed was just one of a whole squad of influencers and independent talent who made this by far the most creator-driven World Cup of all time. Elsewhere The Sidemen teamed up with BBC Sport for a watchalong stream, while two literal teams of creators competed in the YouTube Creator World Cup. Players representing 350m combined subscribers took to the pitch.

And just like the real players, these influencers had a lot riding on them. As creators dominated the attention economy surrounding the World Cup, brand money followed them. Fortunes could be made, and jeopardised, through a single stream.

But though creators have it all to play for, what they lack is the support system that helped Spain produce their world beating talent. Back to Speed as an example: growing up in front of the camera he has, at various time, been banned from Twitch, accidentally livestreamed explicit sexual content via a Minecraft mod, set fire to his house with an enormous Pikachu firework, had a SWAT team maliciously called to his house, and been caught up in a crypto pump and dump scheme.

What would La Masia have made of all that?

Speed was not always blameless. But – c’mon, the kid was also 17. A creator starting to get breakout success at that age has to deal with a lot: fame, money, trolls, pressure from sponsors and the constant grind of competing every day to win the algorithm. It’s a constant grind, and it’s no wonder many young creators burn out.

As another 17-year-old, athlete and creator Amira Tahri explains: “Social media has opened so many doors for me, but it also comes with a pressure that most people don’t see. Especially for teen creators, it’s not uncommon to feel insecure as a result of negative comments or DMs. Having the right support makes it easier to tune out the negativity and keep doing what you love.”

The right support. That’s what that Spain team had, and what too many creators don’t. Talk to any brand, platform, agency, or media company. They’ll tell you that creators are the future. They’ll celebrate their success in latching on to the latest breakout star.

But if those things are true, and these young people really are the future of our industry, we need to do a  much better job of looking after them. And Spain, and their World Cup winning teenagers, have something to teach us about that.