Basque identity and soccer

Abstract

Football is regarded as one of the defining elements of the local national identity in Spain – a country with diverse historical nationalities. The game serves as the means for a nationality to dissociate from the majority-controlled state. The importance of national identities to be found on the territory of Spain is central to any worthy understanding of the history of football up to the present day, and it is especially true in the case of Basque football. Sport, and especially football, plays an important role in emphasizing the Basque national identity in all the Basque regions, and it is a special manifestation of their political beliefs. As this essay tries to argue, the game has become an integral part of Basque national culture while the football clubs and national teams have assumed political importance. The Basques have their own national teams, i.e. clubs, whose teams represent the Basque nation as also the country Euskadi. Thus, the essay aims to examine the relationships between football and Basque national identity in a historical perspective.