The Political Football Stadium

This book focuses on the football stadium as a political space and examines how stadiums can be viewed as the objects and catalysts of political change. Rather than acting as functional constructions designed merely to host football games, stadiums stand out in the urban landscape as landmarks that serve as gathering points for large communities. The manifestation of the political in football stadiums can be heard in the discontent voiced by supporter activism; in the use of stadiums for national and local identity politics; in attempts to instrumentalize emotions by both totalitarian and democratic regimes; among fan groups in political uprisings, and in the surveillance of fans through e-tickets and seat allocation. This edited collection brings together a variety of case studies from a wide range of different contexts. Contributors stem from political science, sociology, history, anthropology, human geography and urbanism. As such, the book redefines and broadens what we understand as the political dimension of the football stadium. Basak Alpan is Associate Professor in European Politics and Political Sociology at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. Katarzyna Herd is researcher at the Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences at Lund University, Sweden. Albrecht Sonntag is Professor at the EU-Asia Institute at ESSCA School of Management in Angers, France.