The Future of Football

This book explores football's evolution from a community-based sport to a global entertainment industry, examining the profound social, economic, cultural, and technological forces reshaping the world's most popular game. Through interdisciplinary research and critical inquiry, the contributors explore football's changing landscape across multiple dimensions, from the shifting roles of players, coaches, and referees to the transformation of fans from passionate supporters to global consumers. This book provides fresh perspectives on pressing contemporary issues, including the impact of technologies such as VAR on officiating, the tension between local identity and global commercialisation, and controversial initiatives such as the Super League. Its comprehensive examination of how football's commercialisation and mediatisation have fundamentally altered the sport's relationship with communities' challenges traditional notions of belonging while creating new forms of engagement. Each chapter combines theoretical frameworks with empirical evidence to illuminate the complex interplay between football's emotional roots and its increasingly business-driven model, offering insights into whether these seemingly opposing forces can coexist in the sport's future. This book will be useful for academics, researchers, and students interested in sport science, football, the sociology of sport, and sport studies more broadly.

Paolo Corvo is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, where he teaches Food Consumption and Social Dynamics and Eating Netflix. His research focuses on the sociology of sport and football, tourism phenomena, food, wellness, and quality of life. He deals mainly with the sociological issues of contemporary football, such as the difficult balance between global dynamics and a sense of community, the new roles assumed by social actors, and the influence of technology. He is a member of the Board of the Research Network no. 28 Society and Sports of the European Sociological Association and of the Scientific Board of the Sociology of Sport Section of the Italian Sociological Association. Alessandro Porrovecchio is Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Health at the University of the Littoral Opal Coast, France, where he co- coordinates the master's programmes in Adapted Physical Activity and in Sport Sciences. A former coordinator of the European Sociological Association Research Network 28 (Society & Sport) and a certified art therapist, his work combines sociology, qualitative and arts- based methods, and research- intervention approaches. His research focuses on health, embodiment, belonging, and social representations, particularly in the context of physical activity, rare diseases, and education. He has co- edited special issues in international journals including Contemporary Social Science, STAPS, and the Italian Sociological Review.

1 Introduction: La Lupa - An Autoethnographic Introduction. Belonging, Distance, and the Futures of Football PART I Institutions, Rules, Perspectives 2 Will Football Still Be a Popular Sport? 3 The Future of European Football: The Super League and the Conflict between Business and Sport 4 The Takeover Bid on Football: The Super League Project in the Context of Conflicts within the SMS Triangle 5 The Impact of Var on the Referee's Role and Biopolitical Control of the Football Show PART II The Fans 6 Fan Ownership in European Football: Models and Perspectives 7 Are Soccer's Fans Like Any Other Fans? 8 Ultras Groups and Right- Wing Extremism: Unraveling Communication, Actors, and Links PART III The Players 9 The Evolution of the Labour Market in the Professional Football Industry 10 Biographies of Refugee Professional Footballers: A Sociological Analysis 11 The Football Player as Politician: The Case of George Weah 12 Notes on the European Football Novel