On 15 December 1995, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on the case of the disputed transfer of a Belgian football player, Jean-Marc Bosman,¹ and professional sport in the European Union (EU) entered a new era.² InBosman, the ECJ established its full jurisdiction on the rules made for the organisation of football competitions by football’s governing body at European level, the Union Européenne de Football Association (UEFA). The court also followed the principle established in two of its earlier rulings,Walrave³ andDonà:⁴ Community law (the law of the European Community, or European Union, EC/EU) applies to sport...

Sociology has largely provided the main paradigms that still frame most social science studies on sport and the understanding of partisanship: the critical, functionalist, figurational and interpretative approaches. These four approaches provide different answers to the central question: what prompts a partisan identification? Thorough research on the means of identification has only been conducted within the figurational and interpretative frameworks. The empirical relevance of some aspects of these theories has been shown in the works of historians, geographers, sociologists and anthropologists on factors of partisanship: class, race and gender, space and place. They have therefore provided the basis for the...

The condemnation, by football authorities (FIFA, UEFA), of the increase in the number of foreign football players rests on a few understated assumptions that deserve investigation. When it comes to clubs, it is assumed that they represent a national identity. When it comes to supporters, it is assumed that they identify with the club they support because they share the nationality of its players and that other grounds for identification play a more minor role. The framework of analysis adopted for this study builds on the existing literature to construct a more complete picture. The research clearly adopts an interpretative...

The Glaswegian derby between the Celtic and Rangers Football Clubs, collectively known as the Old Firm, has become one of the most commented on football games on the planet. Yet, the Old Firm is anything but a world-class sporting event. Indeed, the Scottish league is a comparatively weak one. In 2010, it is ranked 16th in Europe by UEFA¹ and, apart from Celtic losing the final of the UEFA Cup in 2003, none of the two Glaswegian teams have had any remarkable success at the European level since the 1970s. Although both are among the twenty-five richest European clubs, they...

Compared to the fervour that is common in England and Scotland, the support that French clubs receive may give the impression of being subdued. For Alfred Wahl, this comparative lack of backing originates in different sociability uses (centred around the café, rather than the stadium) and the extended offer of leisure activities after 1945.¹ All the attention on the lower attendance figures should not conceal the real trend since the beginning of the 1970s of a long-term increase in the number of spectators attending football games, and which can be attributed to increasingly good results of a few clubs (Saint-Étienne...

In glaring contrast to PSG, a cosmopolitan team since its very inception, the identity of Arsenal Football Club was long described as unashamedly English. Yet, no club in Europe has, arguably, been more affected by the unlimited opening of professional clubs to European citizens than Arsenal. On 14 February 2005, its French manager, Arsène Wenger, used an entirely non-English squad: all the players on the match sheet were foreign. This feat was repeated more than once in the following two years.¹ Far from being exceptional, the evolution of Arsenal follows closely that of the whole of English football. The English...

This study has researched the processes through which supporters identify with their clubs in the post-Bosmanera. It seeks to build on, modify and develop the hypotheses that the nationality and social identity of players as well as the composition of the team are the primary means through which supporters identify with their club. Other means of identification have been looked at too: the style of the team, and emblems such as the colours and the stadium. The study has also investigated whether the press plays a central role in the construction of the ‘imagined communities’ of supporters, as it...