FIFA World Cup and Beyond

<p>Soccer the most popular mass spectator sport in the world has long been a site which articulates the complexities and diversities of the everyday life of the nation. The imaging and prioritization of the game as a ‘national’ or an ‘international’ event in public opinion and the media also play a critical role in transforming the soccer culture of a nation. In this context the FIFA World Cup remains the grand spectacle for asserting the identity of the nation. This book intends to offer eclectic perspectives and discourses on the FIFA World Cup and to throw light on the changing dimensions of football and sports culture in terms of identity race ethnicity gender fandom governance and so on. On the one hand it focuses on the significance of the FIFA World Cup for nations in terms of hosting performance playing style and identity formation. On the other it looks beyond the World Cup to highlight the growing importance of a host of perspectives in sport in general and football in particular with reference to art fandom gender media and governance.</p><p>The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of <i>Sport in Society.</i></p>