The Lebanese love for football warms my heart. The colors flying from windows, cars and street-corner stands during big tournaments like the Euro 2012 give me an emotional lift. The friendly coexistence of so many football allegiances — from England to Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and my native Germany — displayed this summer has a great pull on me. And what makes it even better is if you sit in a pub in Hamra, or a mall café in Ashrafieh, and fever with the action of your team while on the next table someone roots for the Dutch or Danes with the same enthusiasm. Great fun, happy competition. But why do the public and private sector in Lebanon get the football economy so wrong? By football economy, let it not mean the exploitation of the occasion by marketers with buy-this, win-that strategies. I am talking about the primary needs of
