En un siglo y medio de vida, el fútbol ha ayudado a contar la historia de las sociedades en transformación. Bajo la mirada de ese juego sencillo a la par que magnético, está el registro vivo de momentos apasionantes, trágicos, sublimes y dramáticos. Como un fiel retrato de los pueblos que lo han adoptado, el fútbol ha sido testigo tanto de barbaridades sociales cuanto de episodios de éxtasis colectivo, ha sufrido y ha provocado injusticias, repartido placer y fascinación con la misma desenvoltura con la que se ha generado grandes traumas y pequeñas lacras, pero, eso sí, ha estado siempre presente. No es en balde que esa forma original y hábil de competir en grupo realzando las individualidades, es la única actividad humana de la que se tiene conocimiento, seguida por la nada insignificante cantidad de cuatro mil millones de personas, todos los fines de semana, a todas horas y en cualquier lugar. No existen fronteras geográficas, ni barreras sociales que limiten el gusto por ese juego. El fútbol como espectáculo, podrá ser caro e inaccesible; como negocio, podrá tener entrañas oscuras y a veces inescrutables, como tantas otras actividades de la selva contemporánea; seguramente, no siempre, el sentido común y la honradez pautarán sus mecanismos de control. Con todo ello, es la gran dehesa contemporánea, en la que todavía es posible decidir libremente complacerse o no, que en raras ocasiones excluirá aquellos que decidan incorporarse a el para practicar, admirar o sufrir. Sí, porque el fútbol es, ante todo, tierra de incertidumbres y de padecimientos – que siempre ofrece su cara más atractiva, renovadora, revitalizadora. Y por la que siempre se tendrá que estar dispuesto a padecer. En 150 años, el deporte que nace en el corazón de la Inglaterra de la Revolución Industrial pasó por innumerables periodos de transformación y de adecuación a las diversas culturas. Se fue moldeando a la diversidad de idiosincrasias de las sociedades a las que se fue incorporando, agregó costumbres locales respondiendo a un prolongado y largo proceso de maduración y, cuando parecía consolidado, acabó sometido a las leyes del mercado y sumergió en una nueva aventura revolucionaria, pautada por la tecnología, por la velocidad de transmisión de la información y por la globalización. No obstante, nunca perdió su esencia humanista porque, en este juego, por la lúcida percepción y la sabiduría del escritor uruguayo Eduardo Galeano, “donde menos se espera salta lo imposible, el enano propina una lección al gigante y un negro esmirriado y chueco deja bobo al atleta esculpido en Grecia”.

In its one and a half century of life, soccer has helped telling the story of societies in transformation. Under the eye of such simple and at the same time magnetic game, passionate, tragic, sublime and dramatic moments have been registered. Like a faithful portrait of the people who adopted it, soccer witnesses both social barbarities and episodes of collective joy; it has suffered threats and been unfair; it has distributed pleasures and ecstasies with the same agility it has produced traumas and minor suffering, but it has always been there. It is not by chance that this original and skilful form of group competition which highlights individualities is the only human activity known to be followed every day of the week, anytime and anywhere by nothing less than four billion people. There are neither geographical frontiers nor social barriers for those who appreciate the game. The spectacle of soccer may be expensive and unaffordable, the guts of the sport may be obscure, like so many activities of the contemporary jungle, and the control mechanisms are not always based on common sense and honesty. However, in this regard, enjoying it is for free. There shall never be exclusion for those who want to practice it, adhere to it, admire it and suffer with it. Yes, because soccer is also a land of uncertainties and afflictions – attractive, renewing and energetic ones, but afflictions nevertheless. In 150 years, the sport that was born in the heart of England’s Industrial Revolution has undergone through countless periods of transformation and adjustments to several cultures. It has been molded in accordance to the idiosyncrasies of the societies that have incorporated it, embraced local costumes in a long maturation process and, just when it seemed consolidated, it discovered the market laws and plunged into a new revolutionary adventure, based on technology, on the speed of information and on globalization. Even so, it has never lost its human essences because, in this game, as the writer Eduardo Galeano lucidly and wisely states “from where we least expect comes the impossible, the dwarf teaches the giant a lesson and the puny, bowlegged black boy makes a fool out of an athlete sculpted in Greece”.

El fútbol es el deporte más popular del mundo, pero no es sólo un juego, es un hecho social que levanta pasiones y un fenómeno político, económico, cultural, solidario y educativo, cuya influencia se siente en múltiples ámbitos. En Vigo, cuando el Celta gana, los profesionales rinden más en su trabajo; si el Club Atlético Osasuna pierde, se nota una bajada de la productividad en la planta de Volkswagen en Pamplona; varios estudios concluyen que el número de días de huelga en Fiat está relacionado con los resultados que consiga la Juve. Con esta interesante obra, repleta de anécdotas, personajes y datos, disfrutarás aún más con el deporte rey y aprenderás por qué en muchas zonas del planeta el fútbol es una forma de vida

The first book to examine the transformation of sporting cultures in South America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Sports in South America follows the transformation of sporting cultures in South America leading up to Uruguay's hosting of the first FIFA Men's World Cup in 1930. Matthew Brown shows how South American soccer culture, envied worldwide, sprang out of societies that were already playing and watching games well before British sportsmen arrived to teach "the beautiful game." These vibrant and distinct sporting traditions, including cycling, boxing, cockfighting, bullfighting, cricket, baseball, and horse racing, were marked by South American societies' Indigenous and colonial pasts and by their leaders' desire to participate in what they saw as a global movement toward human progress. Drawing on a wealth of original archival research, Brown debunks legends, highlights the stories of forgotten sportswomen and Indigenous sports, and unpacks the social and cultural connections within South America and with the rest of the world.

Fear and Loathing in La Liga is the definitive history of the greatest rivalry in world sport: FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. It's Messi vs. Ronaldo, Guardiola vs. Mourinho, the nation against the state, freedom fighters vs. Franco's fascists, plus majestic goals and mesmerizing skills. It's the best two teams on the planet going head-to-head. It's more than a game. It's a war. It's El Cláco. Only, it's not quite that simple. Spanish soccer expert and historian Sid Lowe covers 100 years of rivalry, athletic beauty, and excellence. Fear and Loathing in La Liga is a nuanced, revisionist, and brilliantly informed history that goes beyond sport. Lowe weaves together this story of the rivalry with the history and culture of Spain, emphasizing that it is "never about just the soccer." With exclusive testimonies and astonishing anecdotes, he takes us inside this epic battle, including the wounds left by the Civil War, Madrid's golden age in the fifties when they won five European cups, Johan Cruyff's Barcelona Dream Team, the doomed Galáico experiment, and LuíFigo's "betrayal." By exploring the history, politics, culture, economics, and language -- while never forgetting the drama on the field -- Lowe demonstrates the relationship between these two soccer giants and reveals the true story behind their explosive rivalry.

The chapters in the Women’s Football in Latin America two volumes will look at the social and historical means of the embodied representation of gender differences that has been deeply embedded in the history of Latin American women and football. The authors identify and analyse how, in a range of ways, Latin American women have found in-between spaces, amid severe macho structures, to establish and play their football. As a result, the book will be of interest to researchers and students of sport sociology, football studies, gender studies, comparative sports studies, sports history, and Latin American sporting culture. The second volume of this edited collection integrates a range of high-quality studies on women’s football across Latin American countries to a global readership. From studies with marginalized communities, football fans but also the media and professional women’s footballers, the chapters show how fútbol has been a key part of oppressive gender structures, and ways that women have fought for gender equity within this key cultural expression in Latin America. The book also suggests a fascinating research and activist agenda for women’s football in the continent for the next decades.