Playing the identity card: Stereotypes in European football

Abstract

The amount of space 'quality' newspapers devote to football reflects its increasing importance in European culture. European print media discourse on football does more than cover the game's technicalities, though; it also shapes its readers' awareness of national identities. It is the aim of this study to analyse football match reports and articles from Britain, Spain, France and Germany with a view to understanding the mechanisms at work in the construction of national stereotypes.The language used by these articles is varied, entertaining, highly inventive and often provocative, evoking references to warfare, politics, history, economics and popular culture. In many cases, the principal elements of the stereotypes represented by the European press are the same from country to country (English fighting spirit, Spanish toughness, French flair, German efficiency). European print media discourse on football may, therefore, be said to reinforce myths of national character and strengthen notions of collective identity associated with sport.

Running Performance of Soccer Players During Matches in the 2018 FIFA World Cup: Differences Among Confederations

“…It has been generally accepted that soccer players and teams from different leagues, countries, and confederations are always attributed to different characteristics (Crolley et al, 2000; Wong, 2008). Previous studies investigating these differences mainly focused on comparing the European domestic leagues.…”

‘El Clasico’ and the demise of tradition in Spanish club football: perspectives on shifting patterns of cultural identity

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Analyses on the technical and tactical match performances of elite football teams and players considering situational efficiency

“…However, each of these five leagues is characterised by different particularities of match-play due to the cultural, historical and social differences existing among countries (Sapp, Spangenburg, & Hagberg, 2018;Sarmento, Pereira, Matos, Campaniço, Anguera, & Leitão, 2013b). Thus, players or teams from the same league are always characterised by a specific stereotype (Crolley, Hand, & Jeutter, 2000).…”

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