The Transformation of European Football

Towards the Europeanisation of the national game

Edited by Arne Niemann, Borja Garcia, Wyn Grant

Publication date:

30 November 2011

Length of book:

288 pages

Publisher

Manchester University Press

Dimensions:

234x156mm

ISBN-13: 9780719085758

The book examines the transformation of European football in recent years by focusing on the impact of Europe in general and the EU in particular on the way that the game has evolved in a broad cross section of European states. The book brings together two significant research agendas: first, that on the governance of sport in Europe/the European Union; secondly, that within European integration studies on ‘Europeanisation’ (most commonly understood at the process of change in the domestic arena resulting from European integration). The concept of Europeanisation and in particular’ top down’ Europeanisation is used to shape the individual country case studies. Other transformational factors such as globalization are also assessed.

The three chapters in the introductory section set the context within which the transformation of European football has occurred with particular emphasis on the role of UEFA and EU institutions. The ten country studies in the central part of the book include the five leading football nations in Europe and smaller countries that are facing new challenges in the competitive environment of modern European football. They include an example of a country that is a recent accession state and one outside the EU. What emerges from these chapters is both the shaping influence of Europeanisation but also the extent to which it is countered and modified by national culture and structures. What is also noticeable the sense of decline amongst some of the small and even larger footballing nations in the continent.

This book will be of interest to students of European politics, sports governance and football, it also represents a substantial contribution to the debate on Europeanisation.

Section 1: Context
1. Introduction Arne Niemann, Borja Garcia and Wyn Grant
2. The transformation of football: Europe, Richard Parrish
3. Uefa and the European Union: the green shoots of a new European public space, Jonathan Hill
Section 2: Country studies
4. Germany: between modest adjustment and system transformation, Alexander Brand and Arne Niemann
5. England: a liberal model under challenge? Wyn Grant
6. France: a case of UEFA-isation? David Ranc and Albrecht Sonntag
7. Italy: the last of the great leagues? Osvaldo Crocci, Nicola Porro and Pippo Russo
8. Spain: parochialism or innovation? Borja Garcia, Alberton Palomar Olmeda and Carmen Pérez González
9. The Netherlands: The problematic future of Dutch football, Otto Holman, Rik de Ruiter and Rens Vliegenthart
10. The Europeanisation of Austrian Football: historically determined and modern processes of Europeanisation, Alexander Brand, Arne Niemann and Georg Spitaler
11. Sweden: the development of club football on the the periphery of Europe, Torbjörn Andersson, Jyri Backmann and Bo Carlsson
12. Poland: new shape, same old problems, Magdelena Kedzior and Rzeszów Melchior Szcepanik
13. Switzerland: professionalisation and internationalisation, courtesy of the EU and UEFA, Dirk Lehmkuhl and Olivier Siegrist
Section 3: Conclusions
14. Conclusions Borja Garcia, Arne Niemann and Wyn Grant

..providing valuable data to Europeanisation in practice, and how the Europeanization processes may be moderated or adapted to the field character.

The key appeal of the book is the diverse and rich case studies that allow for comparative analysis of the differential rates of change in domestic football across European nation states and, to some extent, their engagement with the europeanization process within one collection.