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Mace, a Dutch footballer, discusses the difference between European and Middle Eastern football on a podcast. He believes that European football is driven by passion and competitiveness, while Middle Eastern football is more focused on money. Despite the financial incentives in the Middle East, Mace thinks that Europe will continue to be the dominant force in football due to its history and passion. He personally would choose to play in Europe over the Middle East because he values the history and tradition of European clubs. The second guest that will be joining us today on the on the money over passion podcast is mace a friend and footballer Who has been playing dutch football for almost his whole life which gives him the insight into what European European football represents as a whole Mace welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Thank you. I've heard that you play for an Amsterdam-based club called ABBA swift I do I do When you think of swift you think of a club that exists to Generate a profit make money for others or for the passion of the game definitely for passion since swift was Was originated more than a hundred years ago, and so they didn't really care about the money they cared more about the passion and bringing Dutch football to another level and including everyone in Amsterdam into a football club, and it's actually one of the oldest football clubs in Amsterdam and And Also from a personal view I've been playing here for eight or nine years and in every single team that I played every single coach Every single Saturday, which I spend in the canteen every single player I've played with everyone enjoys football everyone loves football, and it's not like even it's not like in the canteen where everyone wants One's money and tries to sell you stuff everyone's there just for the passion of football Thank you When you look to the Middle East however you see that a lot of money is being invested into football How do you think this affects a footballer's mindset because they have to make the choice of having to leave Europe? Where the prosperity and the glory is of play for clubs big clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona For the likes of the Middle East where a place where you can probably get a much larger paycheck Compared to Europe Well, I think that this can definitely impact the footballers mindset because a lot of footballers are driven by money But as you can see like Ronaldo he could have chosen to finish his career in England or even in Italy but he chose to follow the money and he chose to Get an insane salary just so that he can he can retire his kids and his grandkids and everything else, but I Think that's still Even though a lot of footballers are driven by money I think there's also amongst all the footballers a great passion for football itself And I think that Europe is leading in that and there's much more passion and much more competitiveness in Europe and So I think that the Middle East investing a lot of money can increase the the footballers Like urge to go to the Middle East But I don't think you can actually like Match the same level as European football because there's just so much passion of all all the fans all the players Everyone has so much passion and it's a lot different than when it's driven by money Which leads me to my next question as we've seen Big stars like Ronaldo and Neymar moved to the Middle East already Do you think this is like a beginning of a new era of football or will Europe still be the football giant in the? Years to come because we do see this large shift the players moving to the Middle East Yeah so Although a lot of these professional players are moving to Middle East just so that they can get a higher salary and have more benefits I think that European football will stay the football giant and will stay the football powerhouse of new and talented players because When we look back we can see that all those Footballers all want to play in Europe like football was originated in Europe like everyone wants to play football in Europe it's like known all over the world and I think that the Middle East by investing a lot of money can like Can like look like get level to European football, but as I already said your people have so much more passion and Middle Eastern football is much less competitive because There's there's nothing to win like all the players that go there only go there for the money Like it's not like Ronaldo with one to win a game so that he can win something because the actual prizes are in Europe Like the Champions League and everything else and like if you compare the Premier League or even the La Liga to Even the La Liga to a random Middle Eastern League it there's just such a big difference. You can see how far Europe is European football is compared to Middle East. Yeah so this takes me to my last question if given the choice if you were pro footballer and You were given the choice between a big contract with a big club. You had the chance to go and play for some big team in England Spain France or whatever or Go to the Middle East and go really big paycheck paid hundreds of thousands of euros to go and play in the Middle East Personally, I think this is a very stupid question. Well, it's not stupid question, but I think for a footballer of course, I would want to play in Europe because there's just The money is irrelevant. It doesn't matter if you if you earn two million a week or ten million It doesn't really matter like It's all an insane amount But I don't understand my footballers like Ronaldo and Neymar and then inside your mind I was going to go to the Middle East there you have so much money and there's just so much more fashion in European football I Would love to play for a club that has history and not a club that that was created by some shite With oil and who invested money into a club Without passion like European football is just so much better than here's much more history inside you would want to be a part of Thank you so much for your time