Global popular culture and big business have revolutionised the East in a generation. Football, Sport of the masses and now commercial super power, has travelled with this tide of change in the East in its own right. The development of football as a major participatory sport in Japan, Korea and China makes it an ideal case study for analysis of the complex relationship between sport, culture, society and economy in the East. Football is also a useful entry point for examination of the phenomena of increasing globalisation, and this theme is widely discussed. This broad ranging collection of essays includes: - Social change and national identity - Women's football and gender traditions - Finance and investment in football - The development of professional football - Football and the media - Football Fans, 'hooligans' and soccer supporter culture

This text looks at the development of football as a major participatory sport in Japan, Korea and China. It analyses the complex relationship between sport, culture, society and economy in the East.

Football is the most popular sport in the world. Globalisation and commercialisation of the game, however, have created new conflicts and challenges. This book explores the role of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) within the rising significance of football in Asia, drawing on three key theoretical perspectives: globalisation, neo-institutionalism and governance, as well as comprehensive data from interviews and archive material. It explores the organisational structure of AFC, its decision-making processes, relations with other actors, and policies put forward. To understand the specificities AFC has faced in its 60-year history, the broader historical, political, economic, socio-cultural and geographic contexts of football in Asia are taken into account.

Women’s Football in a Global, Professional Era is an important addition to discussions on sport as work for women, and an essential reference point for students, researchers and sports professionals interested in the debates around the professionalisation of women’s football internationally.

Football is unquestionably the world’s most popular and influential sport. There is no corner of the globe in which the game is not played or followed. More countries are affiliated to FIFA, football’s governing body, than to the United Nations. The sport has therefore become an important component of our social, cultural, political and economic life. The Routledge Handbook of Football Studies is a landmark work of reference, going further than any other book in considering the historical and contemporary significance of football around the world. Written by a team of leading sport scholars, the book covers a broad range of disciplines from history, sociology, politics and business, to philosophy, law and media studies. The central section of the book examines key themes and issues in football studies, such as the World Cup and international competition, governance and ownership, fandom and celebrity. The concluding section offers in-depth surveys of the culture and organisation of football in each of the regional confederations, from UEFA to CONCACAF. This book will be fascinating reading for any serious football fan and an essential resource for advanced students or scholars undertaking research in football or sport studies, and any practitioner or policy-maker working in football.

In this comprehensive Handbook, John Goddard and Peter Sloane present a collection of analytical contributions by internationally regarded scholars in the field, which extensively examine the many economic challenges facing the world's most popular

Over the past decade, European football has seen tremendous changes impacting upon its international framework as well as local traditions and national institutions. Processes of Europeanization in the fields of economy and politics provided the background for transformations of the production and consumption of football on a transnational scale. In the course of such rearrangements, football tournaments like the UEFA Championship or the European Champions League turned into mega-events and media spectacles attracting ever-growing audiences. The experience of participating in these events offers some of the very few occasions for the display and embodiment of identities within a European context. This volume takes the 2008 EUROs hosted by Austria and Switzerland as a case study to analyze the political and cultural significance of the tournament from a multidisciplinary angle. What are the special features and spatial arrangements of a UEFAesque Europe, in comparison to alternative possibilities of a Europe? Situating the sport tournament between interpretations of collective European ritual and European spectacle, the key research question will ask what kind of Europe was represented in the cultural, political and economic manifestations of the 2008 EUROs. This book was published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.