Ein Spiel im Container? Zum Zusammenhang von Raum und Fußball

Abstract

Abstract

A Game trapped in a „Container“? – Connections between Football and Space. This article inquires into the relation between spatial concepts and the political organization of football, as well as the spatial logic of the game itself. While at first it would appear that football – as a „national“ sport – is organized along the boundaries of national „containers“, due to its rigidity, thinking space in terms of nation-state containers is in decline. In light of this, this article asks whether the political organization of football has become de-spatialized. In following this line of questioning, the article argues that the coexistence of container- and fluid-spaces permeates the political organization of football. Nevertheless, simplistic binary thinking is incapable of appropriately dealing with football-related constructions of representation and space. Rather, its overlapping and ambiguous features make football a political phenomenon and a thrilling game.