Becoming European Through Football? The Case of Sturm Graz

Abstract

Discursive approaches to “becoming European” in the twenty-first century often target a restricted political understanding of Europe (often limited to the EU) and have the tendency to focus on discourses among rather established segments of societies, e.g. in the quality press or amongst educated citizens. Given an increasing lack of support for the political project of the European Union and the known elite-mass split regarding the identification with Europe, it seems important to shift the focus towards non-elite discourses and on subliminal, yet politically relevant formations of perspectives on Europe through leisure and life-world experiences. The governance structures of club football throughout Europe have been heavily Europeanised since the 1990s: player markets, continent-wide club competitions and match broadcasting have provided the infrastructure for a pan-European football space. This article analyses how football fans construct “Europe” in relation to their sport and how “becoming European” is visible in their relation to the sports. This allows to investigate non-elite discourses and narrations in a decidedly leisure time arena where masses invest considerable time, effort, and emotions. The essay investigates discourses of identification and delineation in the context of Europe among football fans of the Austrian Bundesliga club SK Sturm Graz. The case selection allows to analyse fans in a small league outside the top European leagues with a low level of Europeanization in its transfer market. The results indicate that fans construct a regionalised self-understanding in Europe, focusing on the Styrian region and in a wider sense crossing national borders to the Balkans and Central Europe. It indicates that “becoming European” may not be limited to a dualism between national and European identifications, but can be understand as interwoven, regional, and trans-border at the same time.