The globalization of football: a study in the glocalization of the ‘serious life’

TLDR

Football is a dynamic, sociologically illuminating domain of globalization. The study investigates football’s cultural, economic, and political globalization through glocalization and Robertson’s theories. The authors analyze football’s cultural, economic, and political globalization by applying glocalization to identities, institutions, leading clubs, and governance. The study confirms that sport, particularly football, is useful for advancing empirical and theoretical insights into globalization.

Abstract

Abstract Sport, in particular football, constitutes one of the most dynamic, sociologically illuminating domains of globalization. This paper examines the globalization of football with particular reference to Robertson’s theorizations of global processes. We examine football’s cultural globalization through the concept of ‘glocalization’, which highlights the interdependence of local and global processes within the game’s identities and institutions. We address economic globalization in football by considering the world’s leading clubs as ‘glocal’ transnational corporations. We assess the political globalization of football with reference to the possible enhancement of democracy within the game’s international governance. We conclude by affirming the utility of sport in advancing our empirical and theoretical understanding of globalization processes.