No matter which country in the world you travel to, there will always be children in the streets wearing the jerseys of the most famous teams on the planet. The sports kits of Barça, Manchester United, Milan, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, whether official or counterfeit, whether in good condition or with holes in them, are easily recognisable on the streets of Lima, Calcutta, Dakar or Jakarta. And not only children, but also teenagers and adults wear them. In today’s world, every football fan boasts of his or her football fandom.
Football is perhaps the most universal cultural phenomenon. Why? For many reasons. But above all because it is a sport in which the best, the favourite, is never certain to win. And because, as studies such as that of the University of Coimbra (Portugal) have shown, it is a sport that generates sensations similar to those of falling in love.
Football is one of the most visible elements of the globalisation that was consolidated with the new millennium. Thanks to media such as television and digital platforms, football is a spectacle of mass consumption that knows no borders. That is why children in Nairobi, Ho Chi Minh City, Caracas or Vanuatu can recite the starting line-ups of the best teams in the world with the same ease as one in Turin or Paris.
On every continent
But the passion for football was forged long before globalisation. Reporter Ryszard Kapucinski explained in rich detail how football sparked a war between two countries, El Salvador and Honduras, who were contesting the qualifying round for the 1970 World Cup, which was to be played in Mexico. Examples of the significance of football are numerous. In Europe, thousands of citizens were already going out to welcome the champions when they returned home by train before the Second World War. What is really new is that now fans are everywhere, on every continent.
The writer Eduardo Galeano said that football is the only religion that has no atheists. Galeano, as a good Uruguayan, confessed that he could not resist the charm of football, that it was something he carried in his genes. Uruguay, a country of only three million inhabitants, has twice been world champion in football. Once by beating Brazil, a neighbouring geographical, demographic and footballing giant, in the final in 1950, which became known as the Maracanazo. That allegory of David defeating Goliath that Uruguay sums up so well is what gives football its irresistible force.
Unthinkable defeats
Football has allowed unthinkable defeats in the international context of nations. Communist Germany was able to defeat capitalist Germany, the FRG, in the 1974 World Cup, almost twenty years before it imploded and eventually disappeared, unable to be an alternative to the Western standard of living. More recently, the United States, the world’s great power, lost out to Iran, always an awkward geopolitical foe for Washington. Back in the 1960s, North Korea was a hermetic and isolated regime, and yet it was able to eliminate the then two-time champion Italy. And so on and so forth, to speak only of international football.
At club level, football has also lived up to its legend of always giving hope to the underdog. Teams from small towns such as Nottingham have become European champions, and capitals with little roots in the football hierarchy, such as Quito in Ecuador, have become the best in South America. No matter the human and economic potential of a country, there will always be a chance to fight with the biggest names in football if it knows how to organise itself and understand a sport of great tactical complexity and development.
A reflection of life
It is said that the best players, as well as talent, have intelligence and know how to read matches. Football is complex, unpredictable and not at all mathematical. Only well-organised teams are capable of success, but that is not enough. Without the ability to improvise, without creativity or the ability to react, tournaments are lost. There is a whole comparison between football and life. Practically every situation can be transposed to football. Tenacity, determination, resilience, humility. Everything works in life as it does in football. The truth is that the ninety minutes of a match always give room for alternatives, unexpected twists and turns and surprises. One minute in football changes the destiny of a whole year’s work. The hope factor is nurtured year by year.
Many phrases have been coined to define the importance of football. Whether it is the opium of the people, to paraphrase Marx, or whether it is the way to wage war by other non-violent means. Be that as it may, football has become a kind of diplomatic outlet, where countries settle their disputes regardless of their economic or military might. And that explains its attraction. There is always the possibility of defeating the mighty.
Forging identities
Football stirs identities. At different levels. Local, regional or national. Sometimes also an international or continental identity. It gives a sense of belonging. It is an integrating factor. Migrants have sometimes ended up integrating into their host societies after becoming football fans.
There are also other, less empirical factors that underpin football’s appeal as a universal language. It is a product that is perfectly adapted to the demands of television. From the green grass that gives the stage its chromatic intensity, to the choreography of the teams and the party in the stands. Few events can bring together 50,000 or 100,000 people in one place. Few events can bring together 50,000 or 100,000 people in one place, let alone on a regular and constant basis. There are also psychological factors. The unpredictability of a goal, the mass behaviour, the catharsis of shouting at the rival?
Bread and circuses
Football is the best heir to the spectacles of the Roman Coliseum. And despite injuries on the pitch and sometimes violence in the stands, it is so without human sacrifice, bloodshed or cruel rituals. Rulers around the world discovered a century ago that football was the Roman version of panes et circenses. Bread and circuses to distract the citizen. The sports leaders fifty years ago realised that it was a big business. And about thirty years ago television understood that football was the best investment. That is why there are more and more fans and more and more passion. And every four years the World Cup is held, the great festival of the most universal sport. Where the best team does not always win and where the winner is not always the most powerful country.
Brazil represents this better than anyone else. It arouses sympathy halfway around the world. Many fans give it their support as soon as their country is eliminated. It is the weakling on the world stage capable of standing up to the world’s nuclear powers in football. It is the fantasy that contrasts with the strength. But let’s not get into the debate as to whether Brazilian football retains any of the fantasy that Pele universalised. It would make for a long discussion. Like half the world, no matter where, which devotes itself to football discussions – and betting – with the same passion that it then demands of its idols in the stadium.
