David Goldblatt: The Age of Football

by Goldblatt, David

ISBN: 9781509854271

Published: 2020-08-20

In the twenty-first century football is first. First among sports themselves, but it now commands the allegiance, interest and engagement of more people in more places than any other phenomenon. In the three most populous nations on the earth - China, India and the United States where just twenty years ago football existed on the periphery of society - it has now arrived for good. Nations, peoples and neighbourhoods across the globe imagine and invent themselves through playing and following the game. In The Age of Football, David Goldblatt charts football's global cultural ascent, its economic transformation and deep politicization, taking in prison football in Uganda and amputee football in Angola, the role of football fans in the Arab Spring, the footballing presidencies of Bolivia's Evo Morales and Turkey's Recep Erdogan, China's declared intention to both host and win the World Cup by 2050, and the FIFA corruption scandal. Following the intersection of the game with money,...