Football and National Identities in Spain: The Strange Death of Don Quixote (Global Culture and Sport Series) - Tapa dura

"Quiroga has achieved a portrait of post-Franco Spain that is, undoubtedly, both a tour de force and a must for eventual investigations. Excellent for those interested in Spain." - El Mundo

"Alejandro Quiroga provides an objective and entirely scientific analysis of football's social impact. Football and National Identities in Spain has also the strength of dealing dispassionately with the struggles for sports hegemonies in a country rich in national identities." - El País

"An important book due to its deep reflexion, thorough analysis and meticulous use of sources. Rigorous and praiseworthy." - ABC

"Alejandro Quiroga has written the almost definitive book on its subject. This is a brilliant volume with compelling arguments." - Leer

Football is the most popular sport on earth, and a near-universal means of expressing collective identification. This book investigates the uses made of football to create, shape and foster national identities in Spain since the beginning of the twentieth century. Its focus is on the manner in which football reporting has been utilized to cultivate Spanish, Catalan and Basque national myths and stereotypes in different historical circumstances. Football and National Identities in Spain shows the changing and artificial nature of myths and exposes the often dark vested interests behind the propagation of national narratives through soccer. This book analyses Spanish, British, French, German and Italian media to tell the fascinating story of how the Spanish national team went from perennial underachiever to one of the most lauded in the history of the game and the profound implications this transformation had for the national and international image of Spain.