The globalization of football as an expression of capitalism: the case of the Super League

Abstract

Capitalist globalization affected the structure of football as a representation of the rest of society, expressing similar economic and statutory inequalities. At a micro level, football as a spectacle is a very important argument for daily social interaction, joining the subjects around its transnational consumption. At the macro level, it is integrated into an economic process of accumulation that opened gaps between the clubs, polarizing the differences in a simile of a class struggle. The successive control of violence was related to the increase in the commercialization of the show, and a new design of the stadiums was necessary, focused on a greater television coverage for a global and interclass audience. The big European clubs and the organizations that comprise them are fighting for the centralization of power in an aggressive competition for a growing market. The project of the so-called European Superleague serves to illustrate the struggles for economic control of the clubs under the monopolistic role played by international football organizations.