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Review of the Globalization Of Football

Dynamism as a factor is evident in every field and industry in light of the present globalization efforts brought on by innovation. Evidently, sport has evolved beyond its own border to present the activity to a much global audience. Thanks to the global village the world has become, people around the world can enjoy the sports regardless of their geographical position. Football has been identified as the single most popular global sport. Following this, it has expanded considerably due to the globalization in the world. The paper presents a critique of the article ‘The Globalization of Football: A Study in the Glocalization Of the ‘Serious Life’. The diffusion of modern sport has been established on a globally networked forum in which consumers are guaranteed access to the sporting culture thus establishing a commercial platform that advances the potential and significance of sport on a global front.

The article cites football as a dynamic socially illuminating field of globalization. It is through Robertson’s theorization of the global process that football is established as a culture of ‘globalization’, which focuses on the interdependence on both local and global process for the establishment of the identity of the game and institutions. The authors focus on the economic aspect of the globalization process in which the football clubs are perceived as ‘glocal’ organization that is transnational stature. Evidently, the political aspect of the globalization sport has been the premise of democracy within the international governance of the sport.

Globalization has established an advance for football as a club. According to Gulianotti & Robertson, the premise of globalization has established an advance in the overall commercialization process. According to Nili, this is evident in the case of Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, which has mergered Catalan and Basque ethnicity despite the difference in the core values of the nationalist movements presented in the path dependency- a critical influencing factor. Similarly, Hognestad holds the same view in his study of Norwegian football in which traditions taken on by the football clubs have established a construction of symbolic identity on national and regional premise. In consequence, the dimensions of football, as indicated by Gulianotti & Robertson, establish a premise of global advances traced in the dependence of local and global process.

In line with Gulianotti & Robertson’s argument, Gerhards identifies that football has established a commercial process in which the overall market value of a club has become an outline factor in the determination of the success of the club. Evidently, the establishment of a team of multinational players advances the technical basis of the game, which may negatively or positively affect the overall outcome of the club. While this can be perceived as a challenge, it is a step in the increasing of the impact of the world sport where by the advance of a platform for interaction that extends beyond generalizations of particular races. It is by this that there is an establishment of democracy in the overall process and an advance in democracy that calls on equal treatment of players. However, this is an ongoing process in most leagues and, consequently, needs to be addressed.

In summary, the establishment of globalization and innovation has not only established a premise for the commercialization of football as a sport but also has established a premise for connection beyond geographical lines. In line with this, it is critical to note that sport is a culture that transcends beyond the premise of race. Thus, diffusion of modern sport is establishing a globally networked forum in which consumers are guaranteed access to the sporting culture thus establishing a commercial platform that advances the potential and significance of sport on a global front.