Abstract
This chapter delves into the deep and understudied relationship between international relations and soccer. It suggests that the world’s most popular sport might be a cause and effect of international relations. It is only natural that international soccer matches should rack up more than their fair share of international incidents, such as the 1969 Soccer War between El Salvador and Honduras or the Christmas Truce football match of World War I. Chapter six collects many of these instances in which soccer was something more than just a game.
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Notes
- 1.
I should note that the indictments concerned FIFA corruption that was planned inside the USA and included transactions made within the American financial system, thus limiting the FBI’s investigation to domestic law enforcement. While the actions had global implications, it is difficult to see how they were akin to imperialism.
- 2.
A fancy term for “justification for war.”
- 3.
See Chapter 7.
- 4.
Spoiler alert: the emus won.
- 5.
It is also known as the Football War, the Fútbol War, or La Guerra del Fútbol. As an American, I will just keep it real and call it the Soccer War.
- 6.
As a personal rule, I always do whatever it takes for a free trip to Mexico City. After all, it was a city established centuries earlier because someone saw an eagle sitting on a cactus eating a snake. I can really identify with that. So, you know that El Salvador and Honduras were ready to rumble.
- 7.
Yes, this is the same knucklehead who decided to take a vacation when he realized that his country was about to go to war (see Chapter 4).
- 8.
For a good overview of the historical debate, see Rob Hughes, “Tale of 1914 Christmas Day Truce Is Inspiring, Though Hard to Believe,” New York Times, December 24, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/sports/soccer/tale-of-1914-christmas-day-truce-soccer-game.html?_r = 0.
- 9.
You can get a World Passport, too. City Lab offers a good account of the people behind the passport that only people with ice in their blood will have the guts to use. See Linda Poon, “The ‘World Passport’ That’s Trying to Erase National Boundaries,” City Lab (January 22, 2016), accessed on February 18, 2018 at https://www.citylab.com/equity/2016/01/the-world-passport-thats-trying-to-erase-national-boundaries/426645/.
- 10.
Even the name Taiwan is controversial inside and outside the Asian island. Officially, the government calls itself the Republic of China (ROC). The People’s Republic of China prefers that name to Taiwan, because the latter suggests that it is not part of China and thus flouts the shared “one China” concept it prefers. Some Taiwanese want to call their country Taiwan and others ROC, and they disagree for multiple reasons. In the Olympics, the Taiwanese call themselves “Olympic Taipei” and bear a flag so meaningless that no one would ever mistake it for Taiwan or China.
- 11.
Gibraltar’s application to FIFA has been routinely blocked by Spain, which apparently still regrets the Treaty of Utrecht. See “CAS orders FIFA to admit Gibraltar as member,” ESPN, May 2, 2016, http://www.espn.com/soccer/gibraltar/story/2863318/cas-orders-fifa-to-admit-gibraltar-as-member.
- 12.
The ranks of CONIFA are frequently changing. See “Members,” CONIFA, accessed February 13, 2018, http://www.conifa.org/en/members/.
- 13.
Yes, that Sealand (see Chapter 2).
- 14.
Except for the goalkeeper, who routinely got run over in his attempt to catch a giant soccer ball.
References and Suggested Readings
“CAS Orders FIFA to Admit Gibraltar as Member,” ESPN, May 2, 2016. http://www.espn.com/soccer/gibraltar/story/2863318/cas-orders-fifa-to-admit-gibraltar-as-member.
Choe, Sang-hun. “North Korea’s Would-Be Olympics: A Cold War Boondoggle,” The New York Times, February 4, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/world/asia/north-korea-olympics.html.
Crocker, Terri Blom. The Christmas Truce: Myth, Memory, and the First World War. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2015.
Dash, Mike. “The Story of the WW1 Christmas Truce,” Smithsonian, December 23, 2011. Accessed on February 13, 2018 at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-story-of-the-wwi-christmas-truce-11972213/?no-ist.
Foer, Franklin. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, Reprint Edition. New York: Harper, 2010.
Hollander, Neil. Elusive Dove: The Search for Peace During World War I. New York: McFarland, 2014.
Hughes, Rob. “Tale of 1914 Christmas Day Truce Is Inspiring, Though Hard to Believe,” The New York Times, December 24, 2014. Accessed on February 19, 2018 at https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/sports/soccer/tale-of-1914-christmas-day-truce-soccer-game.html?_r=0.
“Kosovo’s Recognition by FIFA is a Step Towards International Legitimacy,” Economist, May 17, 2016. Accessed on February 11, 2018 at https://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2016/05/sport-and-statehood.
“Members,” CONIFA. Accessed on February 13, 2018 at http://www.conifa.org/en/members/.
“Moments in Diplomatic History: The 1969 ‘Soccer War’ Between Honduras and El Salvador,” Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (2012). Accessed on February 13, 2018 at http://adst.org/2014/06/the-1969-soccer-war/#.WmS9tHn9mM9.
Poon, Linda. “The ‘World Passport’ That’s Trying to Erase National Boundaries,” City Lab, January 22, 2016. Accessed on February 18, 2018 at https://www.citylab.com/equity/2016/01/the-world-passport-thats-trying-to-erase-national-boundaries/426645/.
Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August, Reprint Edition. New York: Random House, 2009 (1962).
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Mislan, D.B., Streich, P. (2019). SCREAM (Soccer Rules Everything Around Me). In: Weird IR. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75556-4_6
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