Spanish soccer is on top of the world, at international and club level, with the best teams and a seemingly endless supply of exciting and stylish players. While the Spanish economy struggles, its soccer flourishes, deeply embedded throughout Spanish social and cultural life. But the relationship between soccer, culture and national identity in Spain is complex. This fascinating, in-depth study shines new light on Spanish soccer by examining the role this sport plays in Basque identity, consolidated in Athletic Club of Bilbao, the century-old soccer club located in the birthplace of Basque nationalism. Athletic Bilbao has a unique player recruitment policy, allowing only Basque-born players or those developed at the youth academies of Basque clubs to play for the team, a policy that rejects the internationalism of contemporary globalised soccer. Despite this, the club has never been relegated from the top division of Spanish football. A particularly tight bond exists between fans, their club and the players, with Athletic representing a beacon of Basque national identity. This book is an ethnography of a soccer culture where origins, nationalism, gender relations, power and passion, lifecycle events and death rituals gain new meanings as they become, below and beyond the playing field, a matter of creative contention and communal affirmation. Based on unique, in-depth ethnographic research, this book investigates how a soccer club and soccer fandom affect the life of a community, interweaving empirical research material with key contemporary themes in the social sciences, and placing the study in the wider context of Spanish political and sporting cultures. Filling a key gap in the literature on contemporary Spain, and on wider soccer cultures, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, anthropology, sociology, political science, or cultural and gender studies.

Association football is now the global sport, consumed in various ways by millions of people across the world. Throughout its history, football has been a catalyst as much for social cohesion, unity, excitement and integration as it can be for division, exclusion and discrimination. A Sociology of Football in a Global Context examines the historical, political, economic, social and cultural complexities of the game across Europe, Africa, Asia and North and South America. It analyses the key developments and sociological debates within football through a topic-based approach that concentrates on the history of football and its global diffusion; the role of violence; the global governance of the game by FIFA; race, racism and whiteness; gender and homophobia; the changing nature of fans; the media and football's financial revolution; the transformation of players into global celebrities; and the growth of football leagues across the world. Using a range of examples from all over the world, each chapter highlights the different social and cultural changes football has seen, most notably since the 1990s, when its relationship with the mass media and other transnational networks became more important and financially lucrative.

As the world's most popular game, soccer is unique in its ability to reflect and impact culture, society, and politics. Beyond Soccer: International Relations and Politics as Seen through the Beautiful Game provides students with a new and innovative way to learn about political science and international relations. It uses soccer players, officials, fans, and organizations to teach political science concepts-such as geopolitics, discourses, and sovereignty-and IR theories-including realism, liberalism, and feminism. This text also incorporates three common soccer discourses to highlight the possibilities of soccer as a tool for unity and social change, as a defender of established power, and as simultaneously a mechanism used by established power and an engine for social resistance. With exercises, discussion questions, and keywords included in each chapter, Beyond Soccer is a worthwhile and accessible educational tool. Primarily written for undergraduate students of all levels, this book will be valuable in political science, international relations, cultural studies, and sociology courses.

Football, or soccer, is unquestionably the world's most popular and influential sport. There is no corner of the globe in which the game is not played or followed - indeed, more countries are affiliated to FIFA, football's governing body, than to the United Nations - and it has therefore become a significant component of our international social, cultural, political and economic life. The Routledge Handbook of Football Studies is a landmark work of reference, going further and deeper than any other book in considering the historical and contemporary significance of football around the world. Written by a team of leading international sport studies scholars with particular research interests in football, the book covers an impressively broad range of disciplines, from history, sociology, politics and business, to philosophy, law and media studies. The central section of the book examines key themes and issues in football studies, such as the World Cup and international competition, governance and ownership, fandom, celebrity, and the historical links between soccer and other football codes.A concluding section offers in-depth surveys of the history and contemporary culture and organisation of football in each of the regional confederations, from UEFA to CONCACAF. The Routledge Handbook of Football Studies is an essential tool for any advanced student or scholar undertaking social scientific research in football or sport studies, or any practitioner, administrator or policy-maker working in football, and is a fascinating read for any serious football fan.

What does it mean when a hit that knocks an American football player unconscious is cheered by spectators? What are the consequences of such violence for the participants of this sport and for the entertainment culture in which it exists? This book brings together scholars and sport commentators to examine the relationship between American football, violence and the larger relations of power within contemporary society. From high school and college to the NFL, Football, Culture, and Power analyses the social, political and cultural imprint of America's national pastime. The NFL's participation in and production of hegemonic masculinity, alongside its practices of racism, sexism, heterosexism and ableism, provokes us to think deeply about the historical and contemporary systems of violence we are invested in and entertained by. This social scientific analysis of American football considers both the positive and negative power of the game, generating discussion and calling for accountability. It is fascinating reading for all students and scholars of sports studies with an interest in American football and the wider social impact of sport.

World football is in crisis. The corruption scandal engulfing FIFA is arguably the biggest story in the history of modern sport and a watershed for sport governance. More than a decade ago, John Sugden and Alan Tomlinson laid the foundations for subsequent investigations with the publication of Badfellas, a groundbreaking work of critical sport sociology that exposed the systematic corruption at the heart of world football. It was a book that FIFA and Sepp Blatter tried to ban. Now re-issued to combine the original contents of Badfellas with new chapters covering the current crisis, this book points to the ways in which FIFA's new administration can learn from the Blatter story. The prequel traces the course of Sugden and Tomlinson's game-changing investigation into FIFA, while the sequel updates the FIFA story from 2002 onwards and provides a chronology of crises and scandals within the FIFA narrative. Demonstrating the vital importance of critical investigative methods in sport studies, Football, Corruption and Lies: Revisiting Badfellas, the book FIFA tried to ban is essential reading for anybody looking to understand Blatter's rise and fall.

Where the Cool Kids Hung Out is the story of the UEFA Cup's glory years, when it was a tournament that boasted a stronger field of teams than its senior siblings, the European Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. Since then it has drifted into its poor current form as the Europa League, the Champions League having siphoned off most of Europe's biggest clubs. Yet the UEFA Cup enjoyed some very stylish years, no more so than during the two-legged final period. It was an era when Ipswich Town swept to glory, Liverpool conditioned themselves to conquer the continent, Tottenham Hotspur twice captured the cup and Dundee United came agonisingly close. It was also a time when Borussia Monchengladbach made their name, Real Madrid regenerated as a force and Serie A came to dominate. Drawing on an encyclopaedic knowledge of the tournament plus interviews with players, journalists and fans who lived and loved the competition, Steven Scragg brings you the definitive account of the UEFA Cup's halcyon days.

After a record 36 years stuck in the bottom division of the Football League, Rochdale AFC finally won promotion in 2009/10. This is a wry look at that season by a lifelong fan and acclaimed broadsheet journalist.

As the world's most popular game, soccer is unique in its ability to reflect and impact culture, society, and politics. Beyond Soccer: International Relations and Politics as Seen through the Beautiful Game provides students with a new and innovative way to learn about political science and international relations. It uses soccer players, officials, fans, and organizations to teach political science concepts-such as geopolitics, discourses, and sovereignty-and IR theories-including realism, liberalism, and feminism. This text also incorporates three common soccer discourses to highlight the possibilities of soccer as a tool for unity and social change, as a defender of established power, and as simultaneously a mechanism used by established power and an engine for social resistance. With exercises, discussion questions, and keywords included in each chapter, Beyond Soccer is a worthwhile and accessible educational tool. Primarily written for undergraduate students of all levels, this book will be valuable in political science, international relations, cultural studies, and sociology courses.

The sports agent has become a highly significant figure in contemporary sport business. The role of the agent is essential to our understanding of labour markets and labour relations in an increasingly globalised sports industry. Drawing on extensive empirical research into football around the world, this book explains what agents do, how their role has changed, and why this is important for future sport business. Offering analysis from economic, legal, social and historical perspectives, the book explores key topics such as: the history of sports agents including the emergence of the modern agent in US sport typologies and demographic profiles of agents in football valuations and organisational analysis of leading European agents and agencies relations between agents and clubs future directions for research into sports agents. Focusing on the major European leagues, this book goes further than any other in illuminating an important but under-researched aspect of contemporary sport business. It is a valuable resource for any student, researcher or policy-maker with an interest in sport business, sport management, sport policy, the economics of sport or labour economics.

This book highlights the latest advances in coach education and development through collaborative research co-ordinated by the English Football Association, the only national governing body of sport to run a coaching research programme. Advances in Coach Education and Development presents the first set of studies generated by this programme that display how research has informed policy and practice within the FA. Divided into three parts, each investigates an aspect of this programme such as the FA's coaching education and development provision, its commitment to developing the developer, and how its coaches put their knowledge into practice. Each chapter includes sections that examine current issues, suggest considerations for other governing bodies and pose key questions including: What can other governing bodies learn from the FA's programme? What is the best way to capture and compare different coaching systems? How can other organisations optimise success within their coach education and development programmes? How can future research continue to unpack and understand the complex role of coach educators? Bringing together a unique set of studies covering every level of football, from elite to grassroots, this book is essential reading for any serious sports coaching student, researcher or coach educator.

Football is the most widely played, watched and studied sport in the world. It's hard to develop a full understanding of the significance of sport in global society without understanding the significance of football. Studying Football is the first book designed specifically to guide and support the study of football on degree-level courses, across the full range of social-scientific perspectives. Written by a team of leading international football experts, and considering themes of globalization, corporatization and prejudice and discrimination throughout, it introduces key topics in football studies, including: media and celebrity identity, fandom and consumption gender violence racism corruption Every chapter includes up-to-date case study material, a 'Research in Action' section and features to aid student understanding and bring theory to life. Studying Football introduces all the key themes and facets of the social-scientific study of football, and is therefore an essential text for students on football studies courses and useful reading for any undergraduates studying the sociology of sport more generally.

Swansea City Miscellany collects together all the vital information you never knew you needed to know about the Swans. In these pages you will find irresistible anecdotes and the most mindblowing stats and facts. Heard the one about the Swans striker who was sent off after zero seconds? How about the keeper who played a full game up front? Or why Swansea City have a strange link with a bustling New York neighbourhood? Did you know that the Swans broke the record for the longest Premier League match ever? Which legendary manager penned his own book of sports-influenced poetry? And what a great fantasy team you can make up from all the Joneses that have played for the club? All these stories and hundreds more appear in a brilliantly researched collection of trivia - essential for any Swans fan who holds the riches of the club's history close to their heart.

Football is an incredibly powerful case study of globalization and an extremely useful lens through which to study and understand contemporary processes of international migration. This is the first book to focus on the increasingly complex series of migratory processes that contour the contemporary game, drawing on multi-disciplinary approaches from sociology, history, geography and anthropology to explore migration in football in established, emerging and transitional contexts. The book examines shifting migration patterns over time and across space, and analyses the sociological dynamics that drive and influence those patterns. It presents in-depth case studies of migration in elite men's football, exploring the role of established leagues in Europe and South America as well as important emerging leagues on football's frontier in North America and Asia. The final section of the book analyses the movement of groups who have rarely been the focus of migration research before, including female professional players, elite youth players, amateur players and players' families, drawing on important new research in Ghana, England, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Few other sports have such a global reach and therefore few other sports are such an important location for cross-cultural research and insight across the social sciences. This book is engaging reading for any student or scholar with an interest in sport, sociology, human geography, migration, international labour flows, globalization, development or post-colonial studies.

Football is the most widely played, watched and studied sport in the world. It's hard to develop a full understanding of the significance of sport in global society without understanding the significance of football. Studying Football is the first book designed specifically to guide and support the study of football on degree-level courses, across the full range of social-scientific perspectives. Written by a team of leading international football experts, and considering themes of globalization, corporatization and prejudice and discrimination throughout, it introduces key topics in football studies, including: media and celebrity identity, fandom and consumption gender violence racism corruption Every chapter includes up-to-date case study material, a 'Research in Action' section and features to aid student understanding and bring theory to life. Studying Football introduces all the key themes and facets of the social-scientific study of football, and is therefore an essential text for students on football studies courses and useful reading for any undergraduates studying the sociology of sport more generally.

This book examines the exclusion of British Asians from the football industry, drawing on a wealth of empirical work with players, coaches, scouts, managers, fans, anti-racist organisations, community officers, and key stakeholders. It adopts a critical race theory (CRT) perspective to offer a platform for excluded communities to discuss their experiences and offer their advice, guidance and criticisms. Notions of whiteness, intersectionalities and gender are explored and filter throughout. This book highlights historical and contemporary reasons for the British Asian exclusion from football, critically examines a number of tried and tested inclusion strategies, and offers recommendations for reform to help achieve equality and inclusion. The research aims to: dehomogenise British Asian football experiences offer the counter-narratives of British Asian male and females to challenge master-narratives comprehend the importance of intersectionalities understand identity shifts and cultural changes challenge socio-cultural stereotypes and racial myths highlight contemporary manifestations of racisms in football at all levels examine the role 'parallel football' environments have played in the exclusion cast a critical eye over inclusion initiatives promote recommendations for reform which are born out of empirical research As long as marginalized groups, such as British Asians, are excluded from a field of popular culture, in this case football, it is a topic that demands attention, deserves investigation and requires solutions. It is hoped that this book can be of use to students, researchers and policymakers who share an active interest in football, exclusion and equality.

'A heady mix of football history, nostalgia and modern-day action that collectors of all ages will cherish' - When Saturday Comes 'Excellent... This book is like a journey through time, revealing some of the coolest-ever albums and stickers' - Match 'Countless memories come flooding back...' - The Sun 'Lovely book... One for your dad...' TalkSPORT 'A cool, snappy retrospective if the last 60 years of albums.' - The Athletic WELCOME TO THE GLORIOUS WORLD OF PANINI FOOTBALL STICKERS. Collecting Panini football stickers has always been a joy. Tearing open those packets and excitedly filling an album is a rite of passage for millions of kids - and adults. It's so popular, it even has its own language - 'swapsies', 'got, got, need' and 'shinies'. And now, for the first time, Panini have granted access to their archives for this superbly illustrated celebration of their iconic football sticker collections. Licensed by Panini and written by respected sticker authority Greg Lansdowne, this volume showcases Panini's UK domestic football, FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship albums, as well as all the great players, from Pele and Maradona to Marta, Ronaldo and Mbappe (via Frank Worthington, Chris Waddle, Gary Lineker, Eric Cantona, Ally McCoist and a few dodgy haircuts). A heady mix of football history, wonderful nostalgia and modern-day action that collectors of all ages will cherish, this book shows why, for the last 60 years, collecting Panini stickers has been - and remains - a global phenomenon. PANINI FOOTBALL STICKERS: A CELEBRATION includes: - More than 2,000 images of iconic PANINI stickers, album covers and sticker packet designs - Specially curated chapters on every UK-published collection (Football League/FIFA World Cup) - Breakout features on foils, haircuts styles and collecting etiquette

The 2020/21 football calendar was like no other. The first full Premier League season played during a global pandemic saw the schedule shortened with games played seemingly every day between September and May. The stadiums were empty, revenues fell and coaches had to adapt as players tested positive for Covid-19, but the beautiful game carried on. Football in a Pandemic takes an in-depth look at the tactics and strategies used during this unique season, whether a side was competing at the very summit, clinging to survival or somewhere in between. From high pressing, to low-block defending, patient build-up play and quick-fire counter attacking, UEFA A-licensed coach Sam Hudson puts the game plans under the microscope, highlighting the many intricacies and micro-tactics used by some of football's finest coaching minds.

Manchester City Minute By Minute takes you on a fantastic journey through the Citizens' matchday history. Relive all the breathtaking goals, heroic penalty saves, sending offs and other memorable moments in this unique by-the-clock guide. From City's early years and domestic domination of the mid-1960s to the glorious modern era, the book covers everything from Ernest Mangnall's early trophy-hunters to Wilf Wild's league and FA Cup legends, Joe Mercer and Pep Guardiola. Revisit City's most spectacular modern feats and learn things you didn't know about the club's proud history. From goals scored in the opening seconds to those last-gasp extra-time winners that have thrilled generations of fans at Maine Road, the Etihad and around the world, Manchester City Minute By Minute is packed with memorable moments. With goals from the likes of Sergio Aguero, Colin Bell, Dennis Tueart, Shaun Goater and hundreds of others - the book is filled with thrilling memories from kick-off through to the final whistle.