Political Economy of European Football
This book explores the contemporary dynamics of European football’s political economy, mapping the various market and regulatory forces that shape its current position and development.
Offering a conceptual framework for understanding political economy as applied to the study of football, this book presents in-depth case studies from Central and Eastern Europe – a region largely underexplored in the research literature – that enable the reader to gain a sense of the rich history and diversity of the economic and social contexts in which European football is shaped. The first part of this book sets out the market structure of football in Europe and considers how key trends of globalisation and hypercommercialisation have been addressed through attempts to incentivise and regulate the football market. It presents a theoretical framework for political economy in football and explores key issues including football and economic development; UEFA’s ‘Financial Fair Play’ regulations; sponsorship in football; and the socio-economic conditions of hooligan violence. The second part of the book looks more closely at Central and Eastern Europe. Presenting case studies of aspects of political economy in football in Romania, Poland, East Germany, Austria and Hungary (including development of the women’s game), this book shows how the economic development of European football has been uneven, not only subject to global trends but also dependent on local historical, political, economic and organisational conditions.
Opening up new perspectives on the complex interactions between states, sports organisations, markets and society, this book will be fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in football, the history, politics or business of sport, or political economy as a field of scholarly enquiry.
Dariusz Wojtaszyn is Professor of Modern History and Head of the Centre for Research on the History of German and European Sport of the Willy Brandt Center for German and European Studies at the University of Wroclaw, Poland.
Daniel Fitzpatrick is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Aston University in Birmingham, UK, and a co-convenor of the Political Studies Association (PSA) Sport and Politics specialist group.
Roland Benedikter is Co-Head of the Center for Advanced Studies of Eurac Research Bozen/Bolzano, Italy, UNESCO Chair in Interdisciplinary Anticipation and Global-Local Transformation and Board Member, International Political Science Association IPSA, Section RC03 – European Unification.