Banal Europeanism? Europeanisation of football and the enhabitation of a Europeanised football fandom

Abstract

Michael Billig’s seminal work ‘Banal nationalism’ described how everyday practice and habits reinforce national identity. Football fans provide a fertile ground for an application of this concept. The community among supporters of the same team is constitutional for football. 20 years after his book, the Europeanisation of football structures could have caused banal national identifications to expand to the European level, contributing to a ‘banal Europeanism’. In contrast to the crises of political Europe, football could provide fans with an everyday practice of Europe. This might change the understanding of in- and out-groups among supporters and beyond. The article discusses ‘banal nationalism’ in the arena of European club football. It elaborates in how far ‘banal’ football fandom related practice is related to the European level. The leading question of the article is How does football create an arena for ‘banal Europeanism’ among football fans?

Keywords:

• Europeanism
• Europeanisation
• nationalism
• Champions League
• transfer market

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.