’I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose’. Theorising on the deservedness of migrants in international football, using the case of Mesut Özil

Meanings given to (super-)diversity in the Dutch national team by Dutch football commentators: A historical approach

“…The current, explorative study can be considered quite unique in its analysis of Dutch football media coverage at three different moments in time (1974, 1998 and 2014). Findings of our study show how meanings given to race/ethnicity and nationality are not stable over time, but are context dependent and reconstructed in a particular temporal context (Van Campenhout and Van Houtum, 2021; Van Sterkenburg et al, 2012). Contextuality of (re)constructions of national and racial/ethnic meanings becomes evident in the differences in meaning making by Dutch football commentators in the different time periods under study.…”

“…Despite an increase in the diversity of Dutch representatives in terms of migration backgrounds over time (Figure 1), it is interesting to note that barely any (direct) comments by Dutch football commentators referred to the issue of dual nationality. It may be that at least for the 90-min of play the Dutch football commentators considered the Dutch representatives as belonging to the same national ‘we’ (Van Campenhout and Van Houtum, 2021). These observations, however, do not mean that after the temporal context of an international football match these national ‘we – feelings' are still there, especially when a game is lost.…”

“…The mixed findings of these studies, including our current research, indicate that more research is needed to examine how racial/ethnic ‘Othering’ exactly takes place in Dutch-mediated football contexts, and how precisely this intersects with nationality. Such research should then also attend to potential differences between club football media coverage and media coverage of national representative teams, as in the former nationality does not seems to matter (Van Campenhout and Van Houtum, 2021). Earlier research shows how media coverage of athletes representing the nation, as was the case in our current study, may prioritise discourses of national unity above those of racial or gender differentiations (Wensing and Bruce, 2003).…”

“…Previous studies on mediated football have found that overwhelmingly White and male, football commentators often ‘speak through’ dominant and occasionally stereotypical discourses on nationality and race/ethnicity (Bruce, 2004; Campbell and Bebb, 2022; McCarthy et al, 2003). Studies identified various forms of ‘othering’ towards national representatives with a migration background 2 (Campbell and Bebb, 2022; Van Campenhout and Van Houtum, 2021) and (re)productions of the ‘natural Black athlete’ stereotype (Hylton, 2009; Longas Luque and Van Sterkenburg, 2022; McCarthy et al, 2003; Van Lienden and Van Sterkenburg, 2022). Various other studies have shown that also in the Netherlands dominant discourses on the nation, nationality and race/ethnicity are reproduced and reconstructed in football commentary (Van Sterkenburg, 2011, 2013; Van Sterkenburg et al, 2012).…”

“It's My Country I'm Playing for”—A Biographical Study on National Identity Development of Youth Elite Football Players With Migrant Background

“…These debates often assume a lack of national identification with Germany as the country of birth. Hence, media debates frequently revolve around the national team question and whether the choice of German-born players with Turkish background to play for Germany indeed symbolizes German national identity (Seiberth et al, 2018 ; van Campenhout and van Houtum, 2021 ).…”