Football clubs as symbols of regional identities

Abstract

Looking at the terraces, into the pubs and the TV programme demonstrates how important football is for its followers – it is hard to believe that it is only a sport for them. In fact, a lot more is behind football than just an athletic competition. The core of the popularity of a football club is its identity. One possible model for understanding club identity analyses a club as a carrier of a group identity, in this case a regional one. Looking at the model more closely, a football club is not only a sports club – it is also seen as a symbol for a group or for a geographic entity in which it is located. Regional identity gives a football club a deeper meaning. And it is a sustainable philosophy for a club to focus on regional identity, as we see on traditional clubs like VfB Stuttgart in Germany or FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao in Spain. These clubs benefit in different ways from their local philosophy and furthermore these ‘tradition keepers’ have a charismatic aura, in comparison to clubs that focus on financial power and act as an economic unit.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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