Abstract
“The world is a global village in which everything tends to be known. Or at least, can be known. Universal references exist, people who can be identified at once from Tokyo to Berlin, via Los Angeles, Dakar, Buenos Aires or Melbourne. But football is the most globalized phenomenon. Georges W. Bush, Bin Laden, Pope or the Dalai Lama, Madonna or Youssou N'Dour are universally known (and variously appreciated). Yet Zidane's, Beckham's and Ronaldinho's fame and popularity largely outstrip them. Football is well and truly the archetypal of globalization”
Boniface, Football et Mondialisation, Armand Colin, Paris, 2006, p.14
This quotation sums the strong interaction which binds globalization and football. As globalization is considered as a process which makes universal something particular, modern football is globalized. It empowers players and coaches to an incredible level of popularity throughout the world, with emblematic figures such as José Mourinho or Cristiano Ronaldo. Football is gathering together a community of more than 270 million players, and lots more fans, all bound by the same passion. That is why the term global makes sense. The stake of the subject will be to see how football will be affected by globalization.
Three English players, a Czech, a Portuguese, a Nigerian, a Ghanaian, a German, a Ukrainian, a French and an Ivorian were composing the Chelsea squad in 2007. Whereas football was known as a strong catalyst for identities matter (we can quote the racist and xenophobe Chelsea fans group, the Head-hunters), this composition illustrates a great undermining of football nature. Indeed, Premier League clubs were all known for their strong local and regional identity, so that globalization appears as a total upheaval of perspectives.
