Globalization and Football

Richard Giulianotti, arguably the most prolific academic writer on football over the past 15 years, and Roland Robertson, one of the most prominent figures in the scientific analysis of globalisation, have joined forces to write an account of what has often been referred to as the "world game". . . This thought-provoking text offers illuminating insights into the relationships between different places that highlight many of the key transnational aspects of contemporary football
THE
(Times Higher Education)

As much about globalization as it is about football, this engaging narrative demonstrates how the world's most popular sport has been influenced by a range of complex global processes and flows. Researchers, teachers and students interested in processes of globalization will find it both very interesting and highly informative. Those with interests in football and sport will find a wealth of conceptual resources and comparative material that should prove invaluable. Globalization and Football deserves to be widely read and I am confident it will be!
Barry Smart
Professor of Sociology, University of Portsmouth

A work that offers a very original perspective and that, undoubtedly, is set to become a key reference book for any study on the sociology of sport
Juan-Ignacio Martínez-Pastor
Sociologica

. . . unique in terms of the scope and depth of its analysis. Both authors are heavyweights in their respective fields, the sociology of football and globalization theory. What results from this partnership is an account of football as a global field which is both theoretically and empirically grounded. Globalization and Football is an important study that opens up new avenues of inquiry into the development of global football in the twenty-first century and its relationships to other social spheres experiencing profound economic, social and political transformations. . . essential and highly pleasurable reading for those interested in sport and globalization
Ramón Spaaij
International Sociology Review of Books

Giulianotti and Robertson offer a conceptually and empirically rich account of football's transnational resonance and one that should enhance the legitimation of the study of football and sport within the mainstream concerns of the social sciences. Whilst sport scholars will recognize many of the debates and perspectives engaged here, the synthesis of political - economic themes promises to inform debates surrounding the contemporary interest in sports for development and peace. . . students and scholars looking for a volume that houses detailed analyses of a politically and economically significant cultural idiom will find this an invaluable resource
International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics

Sveral elements of this case study add to our knowledge of football and globalization. And, unlike edited collections, this book has the advantage of a narrative advanced by two authors which is woven around a framework drawn from Robertson's wider work on globalization. Robertson's framework focuses on dimensions that have been fruitfully applied to football. . . The strengths of the text thus lie in its advocacy of a long-term perspective, the use of the concept of glocalization, the possibilities of transnational convergence, divergence and interrelations among social groups and societies, and the 'making and remaking of the local, regional, national, international and transnational realms' (p. 172). The authors' adherence to this theoretical scaffolding is evident in the structure of the book - with its focus on history, its cultural aspects, its economic concerns, political contours and social expression
Sociology