FootballON: More Than Goals is ETERON’s first research project on the football industry in Greece and the world. We delve into different thematic areas and shed light on aspects and dimensions of the sport that go beyond the four lines of the pitch, pass into the stands, into the professional, business and research fields, and penetrate the sphere of everyday life of millions of people.
The aim of the project is to broaden the field of perception of modern football and to understand how it is built and constructed, who it concerns, how it mutates and evolves within a rapidly developing social, economic, cultural and geopolitical environment.
The research program started in February 2025.
Contact: d.rapidis@eteron.org
Dimitris Rapidis
Jonathan Even-Johar
Strategic development consultant at the AHK Research Centre in Amsterdam, a founding member of the Football Makes History platform
Tijs Hardam
Researcher at the Football Makes History platform
Dimitris Rapidis
Grants Officer & Political Researcher - ETERON
Jonathan Even-Johar is a strategic development consultant at the AHK Research Centre in Amsterdam, a founding member of the Football Makes History platform. Together with Tijs Hardam, a researcher at the Football Makes History platform, they participate in the ETERON project FootballON: More Than Goals, talking about the connection between historical research and football, the importance of football heritage in contemporary social developments and how students can discover and learn history through football.
Football is often described as a reflection of society. In what specific ways has football acted as a mirror to historical societal shifts, and can you provide an example of a particular historical event or period where this reflection is particularly clear?
There are several examples of how football, a sport rooted in society as a whole, was impacted by broader historical shifts. An example we can name is that of decolonization. The new independence of many countries was a process that did not only change things in the political sphere, but also had results in the way that international football became organized.
For instance, the shift in relations between the 1966 edition of the FIFA World Cup and next editions was strongly influenced by the process of decolonization. In terms of football teams who were allowed to participate in the 1966 version, only one team from Africa, Asia or Oceania was given access. This meant that up until the 1966 edition, the “World” Cup was very much a Western affair.
Due to decolonization and the emergence of new national teams like Ghana, pressure mounted on football institutions to implement changes. The 1966 boycott by African nations, along with a change in FIFA leadership, led to the expansion of the tournament. Over the years, the number of participating national teams increased from 16 to 24 and eventually to 32.
In this specific example, the trajectory of the biggest international football tournament was strongly influenced by the process of decolonization. 1
Other examples when thinking about ‘historical societal shifts’ which find direct reflections in football relate to social history and the rise of the middle class, industrialisation and deindustrialisation, the rise of the leisure economy, globalisation, various forms of emancipation of marginalised groups, and so on. On these and more processes, our platform seeks to tell simple and easy-to-read stories as examples, along with providing ‘thinking points’, to enable football as a conversational tool.
The Football Makes History project emphasizes the importance of football heritage. How can the study of football history contribute to a broader understanding of national identity, local communities, and even international relations?
At Football Makes History we emphasize that football clubs are more than just the players and the results on the field. These clubs are social institutions, often grown from particular local communities and sustained by hundreds, or even thousands of individuals.
Take, for example, the club of FC Barcelona. At face value this club is known best by its most important players (Messi, Xavi, Cruyff etc.) and impressive sports results. But if we look deeper there is also a story there of Catalan identity. The club is rooted in Catalonia, a region of Spain with its own strong cultural identity and history of resistance against Spanish nationalism. By studying a club like FC Barcelona we not only learn something about the amazing football they played, but also how Spain is a divided nation-state made up of various, layered, conflicting identities.
Our latest project took at heart the role of a football club vis-a-vis its immediate socio-cultural surrounding, the town, the village. Often clubs are deeply rooted in these societies, and one would be able to find local histories touching both on themes of political relevance, as well as direct local sense of belonging. There is a difference in terms of learning about the past at a (constructed) national or international scale, versus a more place-driven local scale. For example, the big narrative of World War 2 is taught across Europe usually through the lens of geopolitical analysis, but if one can find a local footballer affected by the events of this war, it helps learners (both in and outside formal education) connect much better to this history, and the currently relevant values.
Beyond the on-field action, what role has football played in shaping historical narratives? How have stories, myths, and legends surrounding the sport been used to construct and reinforce certain historical interpretations or national myths?
If there is one place where historical narratives and football intersect, it is the Balkans. A region marked by war and conflict, many Balkan football clubs reflect a past shaped by national divisions.
In Bosniak fan culture, it is common for supporters to fill stadium stands with images commemorating the Srebrenica genocide. In response, rival non-Bosniak teams looking to provoke their counterparts often engage in chants or actions expressing support for Serbian fighters.
Thus, football teams in the Balkans serve as representations of different factions in the region’s conflicts, with each club’s fan culture reflecting its own interpretation of history.2
From the terraces to boardrooms, how has the role of women in football evolved throughout history? What challenges have they faced, and what contributions have they made, both on and off the pitch, to shaping the game we know today? How can historical research help to reclaim and celebrate these often-overlooked stories?
This is a big and recently emerging field of research, analysis and communication. It is important to note that women’s football evolved at the very same time as the men’s game, with a peak in terms of popularity in and directly after World War 1. However, what followed was a period of several decades of the women being banned from the game. This created a considerable disadvantage.
On our website we seek to shed light on important individuals and key events which have been unremembered and deserve novel recognition. 3
New historical research here needs to be very mindful that these histories can be accessed through careful oral history work, in which it is very important to acknowledge the individual narratives of those women who have organised, played and further shaped and developed the women’s game. Sometimes, especially now as this subject is growing in attention, it is also important to ensure reciprocity between those who lived through history, and those who now research and celebrate it.
Looking ahead, what are some of the most promising avenues for future research connecting football and history? What untold stories or unexplored areas could significantly enrich our understanding of this fascinating intersection?
On our website, footballmakeshistory.eu, we delve into a wide variety of avenues to link football and history. There we also provide toolkits for teachers who want to integrate football into their lessons, inspiring students to discover history through this popular sport.
In the coming years, we seek to intensify collaboration with football clubs, and seek how historians and other heritage workers can help these organizations utilise the potential of historical research, storytelling and community archiving. For that we are launching an inspirational poster “Gameplan” with 8 key practices on what clubs could do, how and why to improve their ‘heritage game’.
To name just one avenue where football and the study of history can link up, it is the avenue of inclusion. Football institutions like the UEFA and FIFA have been making efforts to see how they can fight all forms of discrimination both on and off the pitch. History can be a method in supporting this fight, by for example informing fans what (their own club’s) history can teach them about inclusivity. A recent example of this is our own collaboration with the Anne Frank House in combating anti-semitism in stadiums.4