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Nathaniel Equan
Professor Grant
UWRT 1103
November 11, 2014
Soccers Presence In Globalization:
Football (known as soccer in America) is the greatest and most powerful unifying factor on this
planet. Football has been bequeathed such a grandiose title due to its incredibly substantial ties to
cultures from all around the world, not just one country. Economic and political changes and advances
made by individual countries, cultures, or groups of any sort have limited the topic of globalization in an
effort to integrate with the rest of the world and develop on a global scale. However, some devices of
social globalization are much too often overlooked and understudied. Football has been one of these
underestimated devices for too long. Football has single handedly unified groups of people since the
beginning of its creation. People from all around the globe have a mutual respect of the beautiful game
due to its being engrossed in so many cultures. Considering such, it is no wonder why there is a massive
amount of respect and civility during games and when playing football anywhere in the world. Such a
game has helped instill a certain level of respect and civility past the game and into a social and/or
political platform. The products that sprout from the confection of soccer and the political, social, and
economic spheres of different countries are generally unknown. My inquiry was focused, not on just
these products, but specifically the beneficial products and how their products have affected the
patterns of globalization as a whole. Before diving head first into how soccer affects these different
spheres of peoples lives, it must first be understood what exactly can soccer do and what is its limit of
influence. It would be unreasonable to believe that soccer is a magical word that can make

problems disappear. In fact, Hough states that footballcannot stop a war or eliminate injustice

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in the world but, undoubtedly, communication can and football contributes to this in a significant
way (Hough pg. 1303). Matthew Hensley stated that soccer as a tool has the power to do
wonders (Hensley pg. 1). He also added, Sure there are other tools and ideas to motivate minds
and galvanize people, but soccer has something unique about it, something hard to describe but
you know it when you see it on someone's face (Hensley pg. 1). The underlying point between
these two authors is that soccer is a tool to be used in addition to other tools to broker a peaceful
medium for change.
The first sphere to be discussed is politics. This raises the question of how soccer can be
used as a tool in foreign policy and communication to improve international political
relationships. Although many argue that the raging nationalism and loyalty to ones team, and
country/region would amplify the hatred of another team or country/region. However, Hough
assures that there are many more positives than negatives in this field (Hough pg. 1291). In this
increasingly sports-oriented world, international tournaments have begun to reach new meanings
beyond the results of the competitions. Nauright, points out how governments and national
political groups have used the World Cup and international games to market themselves among
their citizens and to gain legitimacy as a nation (Nauright pg. 1). Hough illustrated soccer as a
beautiful tool as it pertains to diplomacy in international relations because it allows for the
implementation of a peaceful medium between the most belligerent of governments (Hough pg.
1293). This idea was shown by the conflict between Turkey and Armenia. It was during a prequalifier match for the 2010 World Cup that took place on September 6, 2008. Turkey was
supposed to play Armenia in Yerevan, Armenia. The only problem was the personal history
between both countries. Bransten and Recknagel elaborate on the situation as such:

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They do not have diplomatic relations, their border has been closed for 15 years, and
there are two deeply felt issues that separate their peoples. Members of the visiting
Turkish national football team practice in Yerevan on September 5. One is the mass
killings of Armenians in Turkey during and just after World War I. Armenia calls the
killings genocide. Anyone referring to them that way in Turkey faces criminal
prosecution. The other issue is Armenia's support of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.
Ankara accuses Armenia of occupying part of the territory of one of Turkeys closest
allies. Armenia says it is helping its ethnic kinsmen defend themselves (Bransten And
Recknagel pg. 1).
In an effort to broker peace between the two nations, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan invited
Abdullah Gul (the president of Turkey) to the game. As trivial as it sounds, it was the first time a
Turkish leader to visit the country since post WW1 and the first time that Turkish fans as a whole
traveled to Armenia for a game thanks to the Armenian governments granting of over 5000
special visas (Gunther and Rochtus pg. 165). This invitation was extremely vital for the citizens
of both countries because it inspired hope that it would result in the beginning of civil ties
between the two nations as well as the re-opening of the border between them (Zaman pg. 1).
Giragosian noted that the Armenian presidents invitation was so successful that a series of
closed door meetings occurred for the first time between both presidents over a number of
months (Giragosian pg. 2). Foreign Minister was even recorded as saying:
By initiating the football diplomacy, Armenia for the first time started speaking to
Turkey on equal terms. For the first time the foreign high-ranking officials said
that in the Armenian-Turkish relations the ball is on the Turkish field. For the first

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time the international community fully supported Armenia's stance in this

matter (Edward Nalbandian: By Initiating "football diplomacy pg. 1).
Due to the new lighter atmosphere between both sides, each countrys foreign ministers agreed
to sign the Turkey-Armenian Protocols in April of 2009 (Gunter and Rochtus pg. 168). This
series of documents consisted of the Protocols on The Development of Relations and the
Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations (Gunter and Rochtus pg. 168). This
example clearly points out soccers effectiveness as a tool for peace and unification in the setting
of international political relations.
The next important manner in which soccer affects positively is the economic situations
of different countries. This was coincidentally a highly discussed topic in recent months as it
pertains to the Brazil World Cup. Many were heated at the fact that there was a total of 25
Billion reis ($10.5 million US dollars) of which only 15% were paid for by the private sector
(Megale and Weishaupt). However, most of the bashers and protestors of the World Cup in
Brazil failed to recognize the good that the Cup has already done since Brazil was granted the
2014 bid and the good that it will do in the immediate and long term future. The economic
structure of Brazil was so greatly affected by their World Cup bid that in 2011 for the first time
in history, Latin Americas middle class outnumbered the regions poor (Flannery pg. 1). Many
have failed to research the facts and real statistics of the economic spending on the game. From
2010-2014, the Brazilian government has only spent less than $2 billion on stadiums, however
they have spent upwards of $360 Billion on health and education (Flannery pg. 1). It is quite
ludicrous to criticize the spending habits of the Brazilian government without considering the
amount of money and energy they have spent on lowering poverty. Theres also the long term
effects to consider. Brazil is especially a country that needs the global exposure incurred through

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soccer, more specifically the World Cup. Less than 1% of Brazils exports come from small and
medium-sized businesses (Megale and Weishaupt pg. 1). Its not difficult to note that the
economic globalization that stems from international soccer can highly boost international trade.

(Use this for cultural connotations paragraph!!!!!)Sport functions as an element in the

globalization of culture, as a foreign policy resource and as an arena in which international
relations can take place.