Football, Nationalism and
Globalization: A Comparison of
England & Italy
Professor Roger Penn
Lancaster University
Conceptual Beginnings: Football Based
on Nationality and Nationalism
• Nationalism, nations and nationality all have a
long pedigree historically
• Nationalism received considerable impetus from
the French Revolution, not just in Europe but
also in Central and South America
• It grew throughout the C19th ~ the unification of
Italy and Germany
• It accelerated after 1918 and again after 1945
Conceptual Beginnings: Football based
on Nationality and Nationalism
• From its inception football has been powerfully affected
by nationalism and national templates
• Football clubs competed in national leagues
• Football club’s players, coaches, owners and spectators
generally came from the same nation
• Football was regulated by national federations
• Football became international within a decade of its
codification
• This became institutionalized once national federations
formed international governing bodies and organized
international competitions
• This was the template/axial principle for football
historically
Globalization I
• Football spread from its origins as a codified
sport in Britain to a wide range of global
destinations within a matter of decades
• The game spread from Britain as a result of
British commercial and economic imperialism
• Examples: railways [Peñarol, Rosario Central],
textiles [AC Milan], expatriates [Genoa] and
former school pupils [Newall’s Old Boys]
• This took place within a system of nation states
Globalization II
• This is a complex concept [or set of
concepts]
• We can define globalization as a process
whereby football takes on an increasingly
global form
– Clubs compete in supra-national leagues
– Players, coaches, owners and spectators
cease to be nationally exclusive but come
from a plethora of national [geographic]
origins
Globalization III
• The growth of globalization is seen as an
emergent/dominant feature of the modern world
• Football is seen as an exemplar of these
changes
• The presentation explores these ideas in relation
to football in England and Italy
• This is an extension of earlier work comparing
other aspects of English & Italian football
• It compares the trajectories of the two countries
using a mix of quantitative, historical and
hermeneutic approaches
Nationality of Players in English
Division 1 Squads, 1970-1
Nationality of English Premier
League Squads [2010/11 Season]
Nationality of English Top Tier
Squads 1970 & 2010
Arsenal
Manchester United
Tottenham Hotspur
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Nationality of Managers of English
Division 1 Squads, 1970-1
Nationality of Managers of Premier
League Squads, 2010-11
Nationality of Managers of Premier
League Squads 1970 & 2010
Nationality of Owners of English
First Division Clubs, 1970-1
Nationality of Premier League
Owners [2010/11 Season]
Nationality of Premier League
Owners [2010/11 Season]
Nationality of Serie A Players,
1930s [Champions Only]
Italian Diaspora
• 25 million emigrants from Italy since
unification in 1870
• 9 million between 1900 and 1915
• 20 million Argentines of Italian descent
[17.8 million in the USA]
• 25 million Brazilians of Italian descent
• 50% of Uruguayan population of Italian
descent
Istria/Fiume
Istria/Fiume, 1910
Istria/Fiume, 2001
Symbiosis of South American
Footballers & Italy
•1930 World Cup Final teams:
• Argentina ~ 3 emigrated to play in Serie A [I played for
Italy in the 1934 Final]
• Uruguay ~ 2 went to play in Italy
• 1934 Italian team who won the World Cup Final
against Czechoslovakia had 3 former Argentine
internationals in their team
• 1950 Uruguayan winners provided two subsequent
Italian international players
• 1962 Italian World Cup squad contained 2 former
Brazilian and 2 former Argentine international players
~ all were strikers!
• Foreigner players banned in Serie A from 1965-1980
Nationality of Serie A Players,
1950s [Champions Only]
Nationality of Serie A Players,
1930s & 1950s [Champions Only]
Nationality of Italian Serie A Players
[1988/1989 Season]
Nationality of Italian Serie A Players
[2010/11 Season]
Nationality of Italian Serie A Players
1988/9 & 2010/11
Milan: Nationality of Players 1989 & 2010
Napoli: Nationality of Players 1989 & 2010
Inter: Nationality of Players 1989 & 2010
Juventus: Nationality of Players 1989 &
2010
Lazio: Nationality of Players 1989 & 2010
Nationality of Coaches in Serie
A, 1930s [Champions Only]
Nationality of Coaches in Serie
A, 1950s [Champions Only]
Nationality of Coaches in Serie A,
1930s & 1950s [Champions Only]
Nationality of Coaches in Serie
A, 1988/1989 Season
Nationality of Italian Serie A
Managers/Coaches [2010/11 Season]
ITALIAN
SPANISH
SERBIAN
Nationality of Italian Serie A Coaches
1989 & 2010
ITALIAN
ITALIAN
BRAZILIAN
SPANISH
SERBIAN
YUGOSLAVIAN
SWEDISH
Owners of Serie A Clubs: 1930-2010
Italian
Trajectories of Non-British Players, Managers
& Owners in English Football’s Top Tier
Trajectories of Non- Italian Players,
Managers & Owners in Serie A
England & Italy Compared
Conclusions
• The trajectories of nationalism and globalization are
significantly different between England and Italy
• Italian football was much more global in scope than
English football in the 1930s and 1950s: this was
powerfully affected by the enormous Italian diaspora in
South America [but not in North America]
• Italian clubs utilized foreign coaches in large numbers in
the 1930s and 1950s: however, they have progressively
disappeared since that time
• Italian clubs remain exclusively in Italian ownership
[Italian capitalism is far more autarkic partly as result of
the legacy of Mussolini’s corporatism]
Conclusions
• In England the trajectories of players, managers
and owners all follow a very similar pattern
• English football was almost entirely British in
scope until fairly recently
• Over the last 15 years or so foreign players and
to a lesser extent managers have come to the
Premier League in accelerating numbers
• In the last decade the ownership of English
clubs has been massively transformed: now twothirds are in overseas ownership
Conclusions
• National templates continue to be
important, more so in Italy than currently in
England
• Globalization has increased in English
football but significantly less so in Italy
• Historic connections based upon mass
emigration continue to be important in
Italy: this evidenced by the continuing flow
of South American players there
Data Sources
•
•
•
•
Rothman’s [latterly] Sky XXX
Annuario del Calcio Mondiale
Calcio Italia
T. Crouch The World Cup: The Complete
History
• Wikipedia
References
• D. Gabacci Italy’s Many Diasporas
• R. Giulianotti & R. Robertson Globalization
& Football
Appendix: Recent Publications on
the Sociology of Football I
•
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‘Il calcio in notturna e la città. Verso una economia della notte’ in E. Minardi
(ed.) Economia e Sociologia della Notte Homeless Books: Faenza, 2000.
*‘Football and Local Economic Development’ Soccer Review, Leicester,
2002, pp 58-62, 0-9544311-1-1. (also available at www.le.ac.uk/crss/.)
*‘Management of a Football Club: A Case Study of Blackburn Rovers F.C.’
Soccer Review, Leicester 2002, pp 40-6, 0-9544311-1-1. (also available at
www.le.ac.uk/crss/.)
‘Sport e Sviluppo Locale: l’Esperienza del calcio inglese’ in U. Lago, A.
Baroncelli and S. Szymanski (eds), Il Business de Calcio: Successi Sportivi
e Rovesci Finanziari, 2004, pp131-147. ISBN 88-238-3056-7.
*'Football Spectators in English and Italian Stadia' Soccer Review, 4, 2005,
pp31-33 ISBN 0-9544311-4-6. (also available http://www.supportersdirect.org/englandwales/library.htm)
*'Cathedrals of Sport: Football Stadia in Contemporary England' Soccer
Review, 4, 2005, pp27-30 ISBN 0-9544311-4-6. (also available
http://www.supporters-direct.org/englandwales/library.htm)
Appendix: Recent Publications on
the Sociology of Football II
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•
•
•
•
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'Sport e sviluppo economico locale : I'esperienza del calcio inglese' in Tempi
e Spazi dello Sport: Italia – Inghilterra Modelli a Confronto (2006) Bortoletto,
N. and Mazza, B, (eds) Il Piccolo Libro : Teramo, Italy.
'Gli spettatori negli stadi inglese ed italiani' in Tempi e Spazi dello Sport:
Italia – Inghilterra Modelli a Confronto (2006) Bortoletto, N. and Mazza, B,
(eds) Il Piccolo Libro : Teramo, Italy.
'Le Cattedrali dello Sport : gli staid di calico nell' Inghilterra contemporanea'
in Tempi e Spazi dello Sport : Italia – Inghilterra medelli a confronto (2006)
Bortoletto, N. and Mazza, B. (eds), Il Piccolo Libro : Teramo, Italy.
*‘The English Football Stadium as a Site of Post-Modern Consumption: Text
and Image’ Sociologia del Lavoro, No. 108, 2008, pp 141-147. ISSN 03925048.
'Sport and Health : The Return of the Local' in D. Jütting, B. Schulze, and U.
Müller (eds) Local Sport in Europe (2007) Münster: Institut für Sportkultur
and Weilerbildung. ISBN 978-3-00-021468-4, pp 221-228[Available at
http://www.eass2007.eu]
‘Sport and Health: the Return of the Local’ in D. Jutting, B. Schulze and U.
Müller (eds) Local Sport in Europe Berlin: Waxmann, (2009) pp283-289.
ISBN 978-3-8309-2015-1.