Have the traditional football giants really fallen off? For example, the former un-crowned kings: the Netherlands 🇳🇱, Italy 🇮🇹 with four World Cup titles, and also Germany 🇩🇪, a frequent World Cup participant.

But Catge thinks—
Maybe they didn’t get weaker,
but rather other teams around the world got stronger!
I believe many fans have felt this way too.
For example, the old powerhouses like Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands
seem to be getting worse and worse,
and the traditional giants have already declined.
Catge thinks it shouldn’t be that;
it’s that world football has become more cutthroat!
In the past, maybe only six or seven teams
really had a chance to fight for the title.
Now what about it?
Spain, France, England, Portugal, and even Norway…
More and more teams
have complete youth training systems,
more and more countries
start to value developing young players.
Football was never just a game for a few countries.
One more thing—
maybe not many people noticed.
In the past, Germany and Italy.
An era, a style of play
could stay popular for more than ten years.
Now football changes too fast.
Styles change.
Data analysis changes.
AI, sports science, and fitness training also change.
A national team,
as long as it stalls for a few years,
will be caught up immediately by others.
Take Italy, for instance.
Over these years, there’s been ongoing discussion:
their young players are getting fewer and fewer opportunities.
The league is increasingly dependent on mature players and foreign signings.
The Serie A has also been criticized for becoming more and more ugly,
and youth training has been getting worse too.
So it’s natural that the national team can have a generational gap.
That’s why Catge thinks—
maybe there are no longer truly meaningful “traditional giants” now,
only teams that keep improving.
Otherwise, holding onto the history of a more glorious past
doesn’t necessarily mean you can win the next match.
What do you think?
Have traditional strong teams like Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands
really gotten weaker?
Or have other countries just gotten stronger?