Awarded Citizenships and Fragile National Identities: A Study into Foreign Born Football Players Belonging and Identity

Abstract

Football is often described to be a global game. This narrative is embodied through the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) World Cup tournament which consists of 32 national teams competing against each other for international glory. With FIFA being an international body, problems of global governance often spill over into its operations. The citizenship and identity of many players – often football royalty – has been a subject of many international tournaments. From this, the problem this paper investigates is the fragile nature of national identity experienced by migrants by focusing on foreign-born football players within host national teams. The question guiding this study considers how citizenship and national identity are structured and change towards certain migrants. This paper will make two central arguments: First, citizenship is likely to be granted to foreign-born football players and is motivated by nationalism. Second, the national belonging of the migrant football player in the broader public is dependent on the success of the team. Two recent examples of final losses in the case of England and France have shown how the nationality and belonging of minority players is attacked upon defeat with racist and xenophobic comments being directed to players with migrant roots.