Abstract
In recent decades, the administrative and competitive structures of men’s elite club football in Europe have undergone a profound transformation toward Europeanization. As a result, football fans are increasingly exposed to European influences. These dynamics shape fans’ perceptions of and orientations toward Europe and contribute to constructions of collective identities. Because football is a highly mediatized sport, fans’ exposure to European influences and their constructions of identity are highly dependent on the representation of Europe in football media. To analyze this, we conducted a quantitative analysis of text-based online news media. Using selected German media outlets, we examined the extent and the patterned variation of media representation of Europe in football news articles. Our results indicate a highly selective media environment focused on a limited set of countries with high sporting relevance and a presence of German national-team players, while other countries rarely enter the media discourse.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 202-214 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | International Journal of Sport Communication |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Mar 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding was provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant no. 01UG2119). The authors thank Bertus De Jong for proofreading. Supplementary Material available at https://osf.io/y3rk6/ or https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/Y3RK6
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Human Kinetics, Inc.
Keywords
- Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
- Communication
- Business and International Management