Football Nation

Over the past century, the impact of football on Germany has been manifold, influencing the arts, political debates, and even contributing to the construction of cultural memories and national narratives. Football Nation analyses the game’s fluid role in shaping and reflecting German society, and spans its focus on modern German history, from the Wilhelmine era to the early 21st century. Expounding on topics of gender, class, fandom, spectatorship, antisemitism, nationalism, and internationalism, a diverse group of interdisciplinary scholars offer a novel approach to understanding the many influences of football throughout its extensive history which until recently has only been available to a German-speaking readership.

Rebeccah Dawson is Associate Professor of German Studies, University of Kentucky (USA). Currently, she serves as co-editor for a Colloquia Germanica special issue on football in German literature and film and the editor of H:Sport—German Journal Watch.

Bastian Heinsohn is Associate Professor of German, Bucknell University (USA). He has published on graffiti in Berlin, German cinema and literature. His most recent publications is “Cinematic Space and Set Design in Paul Leni’s The Last Warning (1929),” that appeared in a volume on German director Paul Leni by Edinburgh University Press (2021).

Oliver Knabe is Lecturer of English and German, University of Dayton (USA). He is the organizer of two consecutive football events at the German Studies Association convention (2018 & 2019). His ongoing book project, Football Border Lands, focuses on the football stadium as a space for social (in)justice.

Alan McDougall is Professor of History at University of Guelph (Canada). Dr. McDougall is the author of The People’s Game: Football, State and Society in East Germany (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and Contested Fields: A Global History of Modern Football (University of Toronto Press, 2020).

“A fascinating and enjoyable read, Football Nation offers a significant contribution to existing work which examines the place of football in German society using a series of case studies which expertly investigate sociocultural factors influencing German football.” • Rory Magrath, Solent University

“Football Nation is an interesting volume that examines football in Germany from numerous angles and through multiple disciplinary lenses. Many of the opinions expressed in it will elicit intense debate, but it is of a high scholarly standard and will undoubtedly prove a valuable addition to what is already a fairly dense canon” • Darren O’Byrne, University of Cambridge