Critical Research in Football
About the Book Series
The Critical Research in Football book series was launched in 2017 to showcase the inter- and multi-disciplinary breadth of debate relating to 'football'. The series defines 'football' as broader than association football, with research on rugby, Gaelic and gridiron codes also featured. Including monographs, edited collections, short books and textbooks, books in the series are written and/or edited by leading experts in the field whilst consciously also affording space to emerging voices in the area, and are designed to appeal to students, postgraduate students and scholars who are interested in the range of disciplines in which critical research in football connects. The series is published in association with the Football Collective, www.footballcollective.org.uk.
Football, Development and Peace: Local Projects in Global Contexts
1st Edition
By Joel Rookwood
December 15, 2025
This book critically examines the intersection of football, development, and peacebuilding through diverse case studies across global contexts. Drawing on the author’s 20 years’ experience of research and practice in sport-for-development across six continents, the book explores the potential of ...
Globalization and Football Fandom: Banal Cosmopolitanism in Postcolonial Hong Kong
1st Edition
By Chun Wing Lee
November 14, 2025
This book uses the case of football fandom in Hong Kong to shine new light on the globalization of sport and culture, and on the intersection of culture and society in a postcolonial territory. Based on in-depth interviews, textual analysis, and survey data, the book explores the lived experience ...
Football, Fandom and Collective Memory: Global Perspectives
1st Edition
Edited
By Przemysław Nosal, Radosław Kossakowski, Wojciech Woźniak
October 27, 2025
This book examines the topic of identity and collective memory in football fandom. Drawing on global research in history, sociology and political science, the book looks at how, where and why football fans and supporters’ groups introduce particular role models into their self-identity and ...
Social Control and Disorder in Football: Responses, Regulation, Rupture
1st Edition
Edited
By Mark Turner, Jan Andre Lee Ludvigsen
September 29, 2025
This is the first book to focus on the interrelated issues of social control and disorder in football. It shows how the ‘beautiful game’ illuminates our understanding of the mechanisms and techniques of social control and regulation in contemporary societies. It explores past, new, and ...
Women's Football, Culture, and Identity
1st Edition
By Kate Themen
September 29, 2025
This book examines the experiences of amateur players in women’s football, challenging conventional discourses that centre male, masculine, and heterosexual identities and offering a new narrative that re-positions women’s voices. Based on original empirical research, including extended interviews ...
Soccer, Globalization, and Innovation: The Beautiful Game in the 21st Century
1st Edition
Edited
By Kirk Bowman, John B. Boyd
September 24, 2025
This is the first book to focus on innovation as a response to globalization in soccer in the context of the global development of the world’s most popular sport. Concentrating on social innovation and on innovations in governance and organization in soccer’s traditional heartlands and also at its...
Football, Power, and Politics in Argentina
1st Edition
By Eugenio Paradiso
August 29, 2025
This book examines the interplay between football, politics, violence, passion, and morality in Argentina. Drawing on original ethnographic research, it considers the role of fans, club officials, politicians, and others in the spread and perpetuation of corruption and violence within football and ...
Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia in European Football: Symptoms, Sources, and Solutions
1st Edition
Edited
By Udo Merkel
June 19, 2025
This book examines the prevalence of racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, and Islamophobia in European football. It provides critical assessments of selected policies, strategies, campaigns, and initiatives that have been developed by various stakeholders aimed at combating these discriminatory ...
Politics, Social Issues and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
1st Edition
Edited
By Danielle Sarver Coombs, Molly Yanity
May 16, 2025
This book takes a close look at politics and social issues in the context of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, one of the most attended women’s sporting events in history. Featuring the work of leading researchers from around the world, the book is arranged into two thematic sections, with the first...
Football and Diaspora: Connecting Dispersed Communities through the Global Game
1st Edition
Edited
By Jeffrey W. Kassing, Sangmi Lee
May 06, 2025
This is the first book to examine football (soccer) through the lens of diaspora studies. Presenting case studies from across four continents, it considers how diasporic minorities develop a sense of belonging between their national and transnational ethnic communities through an active ...
Football, Community and Social Responsibility: Everton’s ‘Blue Family’ and Sport at the Service of Humanity
1st Edition
By Chris Stone
April 23, 2025
This book shines a light on the value and effectiveness of football clubs’ community engagement work, the cultural value of sport and the position sport plays within people’s daily lives. The book considers the deep historical roots that many football clubs have as charitable institutions within ...
LGBT Football Fans: Authenticity, Belonging and Visibility
1st Edition
By Rory Magrath
April 14, 2025
While recent years have seen the emergence of a significant body of research on LGBT inclusion in sport, little is known about LGBT fans. This book provides the first in-depth examination of LGBT football fans’ experiences and sense of place in the contemporary English game. Drawing on almost 100 ...