page_title: Association football culture
section_title: Globalization
hierarchical_section_title: Association football culture / Players / Globalization
caption_attribution_description: English: Egypt and Russia match at the FIFA World Cup 2018-06-19
context_page_description: Association football culture refers to the cultural aspects surrounding the game of association football. As the sport is global, the culture of the game is diverse, with varying degrees of overlap and distinctiveness in each country. In many countries, football has ingrained itself into the national culture, and parts of life may revolve around it. Many countries have daily football newspapers, as well as football magazines. Football players, especially in the top levels of the game, have become role models.
  Football has over 150 years of history – with the rules first written in England in 1863 – and since then a vast and diverse culture has emerged. The culture of football can be easily divided into how the players, fans and clubs see the sport. Held every four years, the FIFA World Cup is a "month long festival of football", with The Independent adding "its extreme popularity across the expanse of the globe giving it a uniquely universal audience".
context_section_description: For the best players, it means their services can be offered to clubs in a number of different countries and for compensation they have significant bargaining power in setting – the top players can make salaries of millions in a year, in addition to whatever endorsements they receive.
  Teams have also benefited from this by being able to find a wider support base outside their traditional local areas. They can also scout for talent from a wider area. However, some European clubs have been accused of exploitation for doing this, as some African youngsters they have recruited for football teams have eventually been left with nothing after the team no longer requires their services. In the modern game, most clubs have multiple foreign players. This is especially evident in the English Premier League, where English players are outnumbered by their foreign counterparts. Some of football's leading authorities, including former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, have argued this is detrimental to the game and an issue for supporters. Published academic research on this question (by David Ranc) seems to demonstrate the opposite.
  Many teams attempt to build a complete team with players with ball control, others with strength, others with speed and others with vision. Traditionally, these skillsets are associated with different regions: ball control is regarded as a South American trait, speed is typically associated with African players and strength is typically seen as the European way. Therefore, prominent clubs scout these regions heavily for rising talent and advise them to have a trial with the club. Football has become a global sport where spectators from around the world can enjoy many different leagues. It has created international rivalries as well as community rivalries, but at the same time, it has the power to bring communities together. The FIFA World Cup brings the world of football together for an entire month. Through triumph and defeat it is a modern example of nationalism fused with globalisation. In Franklin Foer's How Soccer Explains the World, he explains that national teams create a tribal sense of nationalism amongst fans. This nationalism is shown in wearing football shirts, scarves and flying flags to express pride. When tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup, the African Cup of Nations and the UEFA European Championship bring in supporters from nations around the world, this national pride is a part of globalism. This complex system is all a part of the global community of football. Football brings players, fans, coaches and clubs together from every part of the world. A prime example of the unifying power of football is the African nation of Ghana. It gained independence from British imperial rule in 1957 and used football to unite the nation. "The Black Stars", as the national team became known as, hosted the first African Cup of Nations. Ghana has become one of the most passionate footballing nations in both Africa and the world, thanks to the unifying power of the sport.
  Coaches are also becoming sought after internationally. This extends to national team coaches, once being native to their country, being brought in from other countries. Examples include Brazilian legend Zico coaching Japan; Sven-Göran Eriksson, a Swede who coached England; as well as Berti Vogts, a German who coached Scotland and Nigeria. Another German, Otto Rehhagel, is practically a national icon in Greece after leading its national team to a shock victory in UEFA Euro 2004, and shortly afterwards turning down an offer to coach Germany and remain coaching Greece. Dutch coach Guus Hiddink has a similar iconic status in South Korea after coaching its national team to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup, so much so that one of South Korea's World Cup stadiums was renamed in his honour shortly after the competition. The two most recent managers of the US women were born outside the country, although both had lived in the US for many years before becoming USWNT head coaches. Jill Ellis, who managed the USWNT to World Cup wins in 2015 and 2
caption: Egypt's fans at the FIFA World Cup in Russia
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