Fans and states at work: a Ghanaian fan trip to the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa

The FIFA World Cup for men (hereafter referred to as the FIFA World Cup) is possibly the biggest global media event. Winning or losing often gives rise to expressions of collective degrees of national pride or disappointment. But, it is not only the performance of the teams that is of significance in this respect; the devotion of fans to the game and their loyalty to their own national team are also an important vehicle of identity and self-affirmation as a nation. Thus, no country can afford to dispense with the travelling model of the enthusiastic fan as a representative of national identity. Through an ethnographic study of Ghana’s state-financed fan trip to the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa, we will show how the actors involved (government, opposition, fans and media) negotiate national identity and representation.     

Fútbol para Todos (Soccer for All): Democratization,Populist Legitimization or Quasi-Authoritarianism?

Abstract

In 2009 the Argentine government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner created Fútbol para Todos (Soccer for All), a programme that led to a policy of direct state intervention in the acquisition of government television rights for the transmission of soccer matches throughout Argentina. Does Fútbol para Todos serve as a tool for the democratization of Argentinean society, a strategy for populist legitimization, or as an embodiment of quasi-authoritarianism? Successive Argentine governments have politicized soccer. Fútbol para Todos has served as a tool for populist legitimization, but also as a strategy designed to legitimize state interference in a historically private domain, promote government propaganda through a new state monopoly, and strengthen governance processes through popular approval under the ambit of the ‘democratization’ slogan. Fútbol para Todos thus aims to use the state as an agent in the construction of better governance processes for all, but it also reinforces the historical union between soccer and establishment political power in Argentina. Fútbol para Todos is populist in tone and appears democratic, but also masks a darker undercurrent of quasi-authoritarian tendencies in Argentina.     

Research possibilities for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil

The FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup is the world’s biggest soccer tournament and is one of the largest international sporting events. In 2014, Brazil will host the quadrennial FIFA World Cup for the second time in its history. Since this premier global mega-event involves much of the world and Brazil is a major nation that seeks to assert its position internationally, the situation is optimal for exploring various issues. Scholars have examined various aspects of the ongoing preparations. Researchers have several options worthy of exploration including, but not limited to, relevant social phenomena, the social, cultural, economic and educational impact, as well as the cultural practices related to this mega-event. The aim of this literature review is to present some key areas that should be considered in regards to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.     

#SheBelieves: the use of Instagram to frame the US Women’s Soccer Team during #FIFAWWC

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine of the representation of women athletes during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. More specifically, we examined how individuals used various event-related hashtags (ie #SheBelieves and #FIFAWWC) on Instagram during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup to frame identity, and challenge or reinforce gender stereotypes from the bottom-up. A content analysis of athlete photos containing #FIFAWWC (n = 706) and athlete photos containing #SheBelieves (n = 629) revealed that users primarily portrayed women athletes as athletically competent. Specifically, nearly 90% of Instagram posts containing either #FIFAWWC or #SheBelieves portrayed athletes in either athletic action or preparing for athletic action. These findings demonstrate that social media provide an opportunity to challenge gender stereotypes in women’s sports and thereby illustrate that social media users are willing to create their own frames around women athletes.     

Africa and the ‘World’ Cup: FIFA Politics,Eurocentrism and Resistance

The development of African football in the international playing arena during the last 25 years has been such that several noted commentators have predicted that the name of an African nation will soon be appearing on the World Cup trophy. [1 Most notably, Walter Winterbottom and Pelé expressed their belief that an African nation would win the World Cup before the new millennium. Such predictions remain unfulfilled, but the assertion of the former FIFA President João Havelange that an African team would qualify for the last four by, at the latest, 2002, was a feat that Cameroon and Senegal both narrowly missed out on during the 1990 and 2002 World Cups respectively. See F. Osman Duodo, ‘On the Threshold of Eating With Kings’, FIFA Magazine, Oct. 1996, 13–14. ] With the exception of Senegal's valiant efforts in reaching the quarter-finals of the 2002 tournament, the relatively weak performances of the continent's other representatives at the two most recent editions of the game's premier international tournament would not appear to bear out this assertion. [2 During France ‘98, only Nigeria qualified for the knock-out phase. At Japan/South Korea 2002 only Senegal reached the latter stages of the competition although the four other teams narrowly failed to progress from the group stages. ] The promise offered by Cameroon's quarter-final appearance at Italia 90, Nigeria and Cameroon's Gold medals at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic football tournament and African successes in FIFA's under-age competitions thus remains unfulfilled. [3 Nigeria and Ghana have twice won the biennial under-17 World Youth Championship since its inauguration in 1985. ] However, the disappointment that greeted the early exits of most of the African representatives in 1998 and 2002 should not conceal the fact that, in a political sense, both tournaments were a major victory for the African game. When one considers that African representation at the World Cup has historically been restricted by a Eurocentric bias at the heart of FIFA, the participation of five nations at both France 98 and Japan/South Korea 2002 allows these tournaments to be viewed as significant milestones for African football. Drawing on analyses of primary archival materials and other sources, this essay examines the ways in which the World Cup Finals, and more specifically, the political debate surrounding the distribution of places for the tournament has come to represent one of the key arena's in which Africa's quest for global football equity has manifested itself. [4 For a discussion of Africa's struggle for global equity within FIFA see P. Darby, Africa, Football and FIFA: Politics, Colonialism and Resistance (London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 2002). ] The essay concludes by assessing the extent to which the discourse on Africa's place at the World Cup can be read as a reflection of broader First World-Third World power relations.     

Ethnic identity over national identity: an alternative approach to measure the effect of the World Cup on social cohesion

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a mega sport event has the potential to bring the nation together by increasing the importance of national identity and decreasing the importance of ethnic identity on the outcome of social cohesion. Instead of replicating prior work that has performed mean score comparisons of national identity, ethnic identity, and social cohesion before and after a particular event, the authors compared the variance explained (pre vs. post event) to show the aggregate influence of the two identities on social cohesion. By focusing on this reporting method, the subsequent discussion rests entirely on the practical influence of the perceptual changes that resulted from event hosting. Data for this trend analysis were collected from South African residents, pre (N?=?1749), and post (N?=?2020) the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Results indicated that while the importance of national identity on social cohesion did not increase, the importance of ethnic identity did decrease strongly, indicating that these mega sports events might cause individuals to forget about their ethnic differences as a result of these events.     

Sport,Politics and Exile: Protests in Israel during the World Cup (Argentina, 1978)

This article seeks to analyze certain questions concerning the protests mounted against the 1978 World Cup. After a brief review of the military government's efforts to use the World Cup to legitimize its dictatorship, to Argentine society as well as the rest of the world, we examine the reactions of world public opinion to the fact that this event was being held in a country ruled by a repressive, criminal regime. Our focus, however, is on the people and groups in Israel who used the occasion of the World Cup to protest and denounce the crimes committed in Argentina. The Israeli case is particularly interesting because of the close relations between Israel and the Argentine dictatorship, as well as the fact that Israel had a large community of Latin American immigrants, most of them Argentines. Their numbers steadily increased as several hundred exiles fled the horrors of the military dictatorship.     

世界杯视野下的当代世界足坛实力格局与战术打法探析

运用文献资料调研、访谈、数理统计等方法,以第19届世界杯足球赛为研究对象,利用秩和比法对参赛队伍攻守能力进行了综合评价.通过透视近10届世界杯比赛成绩,对当代世界足坛实力格局进行了探讨;结合世界杯强队的优异表现,论述了现代足球战术打法特征.第19届世界杯足球赛巴西队、阿根廷队2支南美球队攻守综合实力最强,其次是德国队、西班牙队、葡萄牙队和意大利队4支欧洲球队.球队要想取得好成绩不仅要解决好全队的进攻问题,也要提高防守实力,达到攻守兼备.据RSR攻防能力的分布特征,南非世界杯足球赛参赛球队综合实力大致分为4档.当今世界足坛形成以德国队、意大利队、荷兰队、法国队为代表的欧洲球队与以巴西队、阿根廷队为代表的南美洲球队之间"欧美争霸"的格局.非洲、北美洲、大洋洲及亚洲球队与欧美强队之间有较大差距.现代足球战术打法大致可以分为直接型打法、控制型打法、攻击型打法等6种类型.     

‘Africa's Tournament'? The Branding Legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™

In 2010, South Africa became the first country on the African continent to host the FIFA World Cup. Crucially the hosting of such a prestigious tournament was seen as a chance to prove that this developing nation could host an event of this magnitude as efficiently as the developed economies who had hosted the previous editions of the event, such as Germany in 2006 and Korea and Japan in 2002. Significantly though, this flagship event was also promoted by FIFA as ‘Africa's Tournament' with South Africa encouraged to share the identity and success of 2010 with the entire African continent. Based on the findings from in-depth interviews conducted with event and destination stakeholders from national and regional South African Government departments, this article explores the 2010 tournament as a branding opportunity that was used to promote both the continent of Africa as well as the South African nation. Expanding upon previous studies in this area the challenges and successes of hosting the 2010 World Cup are examined as is the role of mega-events such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup in generating a nation and continent-wide branding legacy. Stakeholders specialising in sport event management, tourism, operations and communications reflect on the branding and exposure for both Africa and South Africa achieved as a result of the event and the degree to which this was coordinated and co-created between various stakeholders. Insights are also given as to the degree to which the branding gains achieved during the event have been leveraged post-2010. As such, this article offers an original socio-historic perspective on existing studies examining the impact of the 2010 tournament.     

雅典奥运会和日韩世界杯足球赛电视收视状况的比较

运用文献资料、比较研究等方法，对雅典奥运会和日韩世界杯足球赛电视收视状况进行研究。结果显示：日韩世界杯足球赛收视规模稍高于雅典奥运会，但奥运会收视人群分布范围更广。世界杯足球赛和奥运会电视转播权价格相近，但奥运会电视转播权却是购销两旺而购买世界杯足球赛转播权的公司处境艰难，缺少美国市场的支撑是关键原因。两大赛事对我国电视体育市场都有巨大的拉动作用，我国运动员参加的比赛最受观众关注，节目播出时间是影响收视率的重要因素。奥运会收视的“全民性”特征更为明显。     

‘Filip’ or flop? Managing public relations and the Latin American reaction to the 1966 FIFA World Cup

ABSTRACT

The 1966 FIFA World Cup has become part of the iconography of its hosts and champions, England. Extant literature has tended to focus on the cultural and symbolic legacy of the tournament, or engaged with diplomatic relations between Britain and North Korea. Contrastingly, we use archival sources from footballing and government institutions to explore the less studied topic of how the tournament was reported and perceived in Latin America, where England had commercial interests and influence, but where there were allegations that FIFA, the FA and even the UK government manipulated the tournament to the advantage of England and other European teams. We provide fresh perspectives on the social and cultural significance of the 1966 FIFA World Cup by analysing how the tournament’s organizers attempted to manage the situation and resulting negative public relations, and how 1966 fits within longer-term footballing and diplomatic relations between England and Latin America.     

2002年足球世界杯的营销与效益分析

世界杯足球赛蕴涵着巨大的商机,能给国际足联和主办国带来丰厚的商业利润。运用文献综述法,逻辑法,归纳法对2002年世界杯足球赛营销手段及其经济效益进行分析,从中吸取成功经验和失败教训。     

Analysis of passing sequences,shots and goals in soccer

Early research into how goals were scored in association football (Reep and Benjamin, ) may have shaped the tactics of British football. Most coaches have been affected, to a greater or lesser extent, by the tactics referred to as the “long-ball game” or “direct play”, which was a tactic employed as a consequence of this research. Data from these studies, published in the late 1960s, have been reconfirmed by analyses of different FIFA World Cup tournaments by several different research groups. In the present study, the number of passes that led to goals scored in two FIFA World Cup finals were analysed. The results conform to that of previous research, but when these data were normalized with respect to the frequency of the respective lengths of passing sequences, there were more goals scored from longer passing sequences than from shorter passing sequences. Teams produced significantly more shots per possession for these longer passing sequences, but the strike ratio of goals from shots is better for “direct play” than for “possession play”. Finally, an analysis of the shooting data for successful and unsuccessful teams for different lengths of passing sequences in the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals indicated that, for successful teams, longer passing sequences produced more goals per possession than shorter passing sequences. For unsuccessful teams, neither tactic had a clear advantage. It was further concluded that the original work of Reep and Benjamin (), although a key landmark in football analysis, led only to a partial understanding of the phenomenon that was investigated.     

Analysis of passing sequences, shots and goals in soccer

Early research into how goals were scored in association football (Reep and Benjamin, 1968) may have shaped the tactics of British football. Most coaches have been affected, to a greater or lesser extent, by the tactics referred to as the "long-ball game" or "direct play", which was a tactic employed as a consequence of this research. Data from these studies, published in the late 1960s, have been reconfirmed by analyses of different FIFA World Cup tournaments by several different research groups. In the present study, the number of passes that led to goals scored in two FIFA World Cup finals were analysed. The results conform to that of previous research, but when these data were normalized with respect to the frequency of the respective lengths of passing sequences, there were more goals scored from longer passing sequences than from shorter passing sequences. Teams produced significantly more shots per possession for these longer passing sequences, but the strike ratio of goals from shots is better for "direct play" than for "possession play". Finally, an analysis of the shooting data for successful and unsuccessful teams for different lengths of passing sequences in the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals indicated that, for successful teams, longer passing sequences produced more goals per possession than shorter passing sequences. For unsuccessful teams, neither tactic had a clear advantage. It was further concluded that the original work of Reep and Benjamin (1968), although a key landmark in football analysis, led only to a partial understanding of the phenomenon that was investigated.     

National identity,social legacy and Qatar 2022: the cultural ramifications of FIFA’s first Arab World Cup

ABSTRACT

This article argues that the decision to award Qatar the World Cup in 2022 will have a lasting impact on the Gulf state. I suggest that hosting the 2022 World Cup is a central part of Qatar’s strategy to announce itself as a legitimate actor on the world stage, one unique amongst other Muslim and Arab nations. I contend that the World Cup is a vital part of this process because it allows Qatar a space that permits the emirate to address specific issues within its society in a manner which coexists with, rather than surrendering to, external values and norms. The article concludes by arguing that if Qatar 2022 is to justify FIFA’s decision to cross one of the last civilizational bridges left in global sport, it will have to demonstrate that the image and reform it presents to the rest of the world are genuine and lasting.     

The Media Impact of South Africa's Historical Hosting of Africa's First Mega-Event: Sport and Leisure Consumption Patterns

The 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa was the biggest mega-event ever to be hosted on the African continent. This historical event had several social, economic and developmental imperatives, including destination profiling and changing negative perceptions of South Africa, specifically, and the African continent more generally. This research undertakes a media analysis of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in selected key markets, namely the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA. The study investigates the media impact of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on South Africa as the host nation and Africa's major tourism destination by undertaking a media analysis of the key source markets. Africa's first mega-event provides an ideal opportunity to examine how a host country (in this case South Africa) is profiled in relation to sport and leisure consumption patterns, including shifts in sentiment over time. Four time periods were identified, namely pre-, leading up to, during and post-2010. A qualitative analysis is undertaken, which includes content sourcing, content identification, semantic cluster analysis and the use of Leximancer, an analytical tool used to evaluate the content of textual documents, in this case primarily online newspaper articles. For each of the source markets identified, 400–600 articles were extracted. The findings show generally positive or favourable media coverage in relation to sport and leisure consumption patterns. However, a higher level of unfavourable media coverage was discernible during the pre- and lead-up periods, which may have influenced World Cup attendance figures and therefore leisure consumption. Specific tourist products (in particular Table Mountain and Robben Island) and the main host cities (Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban) had more mentions and stronger associations than South Africa generally. The positive imagery which prevailed during the event needs to be further emphasised in future sport events and the tourism and leisure marketing of South Africa.     

Opportunities for all the Team: Entrepreneurship and the 1966 and 1994 Soccer World Cups

Abstract

Little research has been published as to the ways in which the commercial aspects of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) World Cups are organized. Extant literature has instead tended to focus upon infrastructure issues, economic geography, and cultural aspects. Drawing upon ‘swarm theory’ and historian Wray Vamplew’s typologies of entrepreneurial activity in sport, we compare and contrast the commercial aspects of two World Cups; first, the 1966 tournament held in England, the first time that a serious attempt had been made to produce and licence a mascot character (‘World Cup Willie’) to exploit merchandizing opportunities. This approach became an important part of World Cups thereafter; Second, the 1994 tournament in the USA, the most commercially successful World Cup ever, realizing record profits and catalyzing the re-launch of elite professional soccer in the USA. These cases enrich understanding of the networks and entrepreneurial activity of the World Cup, one of the most significant sporting and cultural mega-event projects in the world.     

Politics,resistance and patronage: the African boycott of the 1966 World Cup and its ramifications

ABSTRACT

The 1966 World Cup Finals are remembered primarily for on-field events, not least the host’s capture of the Jules Rimet trophy, the performances of the minnows of North Korea in reaching the quarter-finals and the Eusebio-inspired exploits of the tournament’s other debutants, Portugal. What is less prominent in this history but more significant in impacting the longer-term trajectory of the World Cup and the global game, are events off the field of play, specifically the decision of African nations to boycott the qualifying rounds of the tournament. This paper assesses the circumstances behind this boycott, both within FIFA and in the highly charged political climate that characterized the immediate post-colonial era. Particular attention is paid to the role of Ghana as the boycott's chief architect. Thereafter, I explore some of the intended and unintended consequences of the boycott, including its contribution to an ongoing transformation in the global governance of football.     

南非世界杯决赛阶段球队失球区域与防守失误特征的分析研究

对第十九届南非世界杯决赛阶段32支球队145个失球区域、防守失误特征进行系统的分析与研究,旨在揭示该届世界杯足球赛各队失球的一般规律与特点,对足球运动的的科学训练、提高比赛的防守质量与效率提供一些理论参考与建议。     

2007年女足世界杯中国队与巴西队进攻战术打法的比较研究

通过文献资料、录像观察和数理统计法,对第5届FIFA女足世界杯赛中国与巴西两支球队进攻战术统计数据进行比较与分析。结果表明,中国队整体的进攻能力低于巴西队,包括比赛进球时间、进球队员位置和进攻有效手段。针对中国女足与巴西女足的实际表现,揭示中、巴两国足球队的共性特征及差异,为改善中国女足的进攻战术打法提供参考。