Introduction

Abstract

This book presents a sociological analysis of Spanish football, the transformation it has undergone in recent decades, and the processes of social change in which it has been involved. In spite of its enormous presence and influence on the sporting and leisure habits of Spanish society, there have been no books published in Spain addressing the study of football from a sociological point of view and with an academic orientation. What exists is a large journalistic production composed of an important number of sports newspapers — dedicated mostly to football — numerous books that examine certain specific aspects of Spanish football (which it would be impossible to mention here) or what could generically be called ‘club literature’, an expression that could include biographies of footballers and coaches, publications focused on the history of the clubs, or books about recent victories of the Spanish national team. Apart from these types of publications, books dedicated to the study of football from the ambit of the social sciences have been quite limited, even though more than three decades ago the essayist Vicente Verdú paved the way with his original and brilliant study on football cultures (Verdú, 1980).