The game of football has played a key role in shaping and cementing senses of national identity throughout the world. As any seasoned traveller can attest, the quickest entry into most cultures is by talking football or attending a match. The game is a prism for both witnessing and interacting with identities and cultures. Aware that the game may afford a space for expressing or organising protest and dissent, powerful groups the world over may attempt to harness the forces of populist nationalism provided by football. Edited by Britain's leading scholars in the field, this book examines football in eighteen countries to provide an unprecedented breadth of knowledge.

PABLO ALABARCES Lecturer and Researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Buenos Aires TORBJÖRN ANDERSSON Researcher, Department of History, University of Lund DAVID L.ANDREWS Assistant Professor, Department of Human Movement Sciences and Education, University of Memphis ALAN BAIRNER Lecturer in Politics, University at Ulster at Jordanstown IRIS BAR YORAM S.CARMELI Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Haifa FREEK COLOMBIJN environmental historian, Central Sumatra HUGH DAUNCEY Lecturer and Researcher in French Studies, University of Newcastle MATTI GOKSOYR Associate Professor of Sports History, Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education, Oslo GEOFF HARE Senior Lecturer in French Studies, University of Newcastle HANS HOGNESTAD Researcher, Norwegian University for Physical Education and Sport, Oslo CAN KOZANOGLU sociologist, author and a former journalist DRAZEN LALIC Director of the Youth Information Centre, and Councillor, Split City Council JOSÉ SÉRGIO LEITE LOPES Professor of Anthropology, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil HIROKO MAEDA Assistant Professor, Department for Interdisciplinary Studies of Lifelong Sport and Physical Exercise, National Institute of Fitness and Sports, Kanoya UDO MERKEL Senior Lecturer, Chelsea School, University of Brighton JON P. MITCHELL Lecturer in Social Anthropology, School of Cultural and Community Studies, Sussex University JOHN NAURIGHT Senior Lecturer, Department of Human Movement Studies, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia HARUO NOGAWA Professor, Department of Sport Management, Juntendo University AAGE RADMANN sociologist, Sport Research Centre, University of Lund DAVID RUSSELL Reader in the History of Popular Culture, University of Central Lancashire. Currently Head of the Institute of Football Studies RAMON SARRO completed his doctorate at the Department of Anthropology, University College, London PETER SHIRLOW Lecturer in Geography, Queen's University, Belfast, and director of the Sio-Spacial Analysis Research Unit SRDJAN VRCAN former Professor of Sociology, University of Split DETLEV ZWICK Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, University of Rhode Island