Soccer practice in Spain: immigration and social integration

Abstract

After a brief decline in migratory flows since the 2008 crisis, immigration has regained prominence, returning to the figures prior to the economic crisis. It is in this context that the debate on the social integration of foreign immigrants arises, in a context in which the traditional social institutions of social integration, such as the labour market or the education system, seem to be in crisis. With the aim of reflecting on the social integration of this population, this article proposes to analyse the practice of football as a possible alternative mechanism for social integration. In this sense, it is concluded that the practice of football, both for immigrant minors and adults, can be a potential alternative strategy for social integration, insofar as it can favour the acquisition of social capital and intercultural training. However, the practice of football is also ambivalent and limited, both because of the conflicts, problems and processes of social exclusion that occur in sport itself, as well as because of the inability of this institution to totalise the complex and multidimensional process of social integration.