Analyzing football as a cultural practice, this book investigates the connection between the sport and its built environment. An international multi-disciplinary range of perspectives are set in four thematic sections bring together with particular focus on the stadium. Texts and case-studies make this a useful book for lecturers and researchers in sociology, cultural studies, geography, architecture, sport and environment.

Sybille Frank and Silke Steets are sociologists working at the Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany

Introduction: Football, Space and the Built Environment Part 1: The Politics of Representation and Design 1. The New European Stadium 2. "Show Yourself to the People!": Ancient Stadia, Politics and Society 3. Challenging the Stadium: Watching Sport Events in Public Part 2: Architecture and Media 4. The Stadium as a Cash Machine 5. The Mirror Stage in the Stadium: Media Spaces of Television and Architecture 6. Killing Sports Fields: The Amahora Stadium Complex in Kigali, Rwanda Part 3: When Global Flows Meet Local Cultures 7. Global Players and the Stadium: Migration and Borders in Professional Football 8. Going to the Match: The Transformation of the Match-Day Routine at Manchester City FC 9. "Come Home": The Stadium, Locality and the Community at FC United of Manchester Part 4: Gender and Space 10. Sport, Football and Masculine Identity: The Stadium as a Window onto Gender Construction 11. Producting Gender-Normative Spaces in U.S. Women's Professional Soccer 12. Football Under Cover in Tehran's Ararat Stadium Part 5: Emotions and the Body 13. Emotions in Sports Stadia 14. Heroes, Myths and Magic Moments: Religious Elements on the Sacred Ground 15. 'Beckhamania': Promoting Post-modern Celebrities Beyond the Stadium 16. Conclusion: The Stadium - Lense and Refuge