Vol. 55 No. 221 (2025): The Political Economy of Football

In recent decades, football has become a global entertainment product. Rising spectator numbers and growing viewing figures for live broadcasts testify to the fact that enthusiasm for the game remains unbroken. At the same time, an industry has developed around football that turns the sport into a business and generates enormous profits.

Developments in football need to be analyzed critically and from a historical and social science perspective. In addition to the economic aspects, PROKLA 221 also examines the social and cultural phenomena associated with these changes, but also explores the emancipatory potential that football has not yet lost.

With contributions by Rainer Bohn, Assaf S. Bondy, Alina Brad, Ulrich Brand, Gabriel Eyselein, Dennis Firkus, Svea Gruber, Daniel Hausknost, Heiner Heiland, Lennart Klose, Philipp Köncke, Mathias Krams, Martin Krauss, Danyal Maneka, Andrei S. Markovits, Melanie Pichler, Jonathan Preminger, Dorothea Schmidt, Florian Schmidt, Etienne Schneider and Felix Syrovatka.