Back in 2016, who could have predicted the impact of the video assistant referee, the awarding of a corner for delaying a goal kick or Saudi Arabia becoming a Fifa World Cup host nation?
Every era of football has its innovations, its game-changing technology and characters who define moments of history, and the next decade will undoubtedly see AI play a much deeper role in how the game is analysed and presented to a global audience.
For the ‘Football in 10 Years’ series, Stevenage manager Alex Revell and Norwich City first-team coach Ryan Garry share their views on how they see the game developing by 2036.
Revell has guided Stevenage into the play-off places in League One, working with one of the lowest player budgets in the division. This after a career that saw him score over 150 goals for clubs that included Brighton, Rotherham and Cardiff City.
Garry joined the Canaries before the 2025-26 season after spending 18 months coaching at Belgian club Lommel SK. He led England at the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Indonesia in 2023, and previously coached at Arsenal, the club where he made his Premier League debut, in 2003.
Q – The burning question to start things off is, how do you see football developing over the next 10 years?
Alex: Football has core values, which you learn as a kid. I think technology needs to be kept to its simplest form, to improve the game, but it mustn’t take away the enjoyment. The community aspect is so important to a club like Stevenage, and if football is slowed down further, the ‘ball in play’ time continues to fall, or goalkeepers keep going down tactically, then ultimately fans won’t be as entertained. I worry that if the game becomes too analytical and regimented, it may lose its appeal, and we need to keep the emotion in the game.
We know some people love coming to EFL games because VAR isn’t used. I was part of a group discussing options where managers could ‘challenge’ referees over certain decisions, to have a ‘time out’ to look at situations like penalty decisions. But that would also delay the game. I think three challenges would be too many, but maybe having one would be good to start with. That was an idea I was quite intrigued about.
Ryan: We need to look at how players are being pulled in every direction, with an increasing number of club and international competitions. The Club World Cup was a huge success in my opinion, but look at the amount of football teams like Paris St-Germain are being asked to play. I don’t know how sustainable that is, when we’re talking about the long-term health of players.
I believe the top players will continue to increase their own personal support staff, away from their clubs. They need it, with all the demands of the games, the travel, the media commitments. You need 24/7 care to keep you fit and healthy.
And I think more players will release content through their own media companies and their own social channels, that’s the nature of where the game is going from a business model.
