Abstract
The important role of football in Spanish society is widely accepted and many studies have been produced on the political significance of the deporte rey in contemporary Spain. This essay aims to examine this significance in a broader socio‐cultural framework in order to analyse the real power that football and the footballing world wield in Spanish life. After an historical overview of football in Spain, the essay investigates the contemporary phenomena of Spanish football such as the rise of working‐class club presidents and the birth of ‘national’ teams from the Spanish regions in order to assess whether these phenomena mirror trends and movements in mainstream Spanish society. The essay concludes by examining whether this evolving role of football in Spain may be operating as a virtual socio‐cultural barometer of society with football beating far closer to the pulse of contemporary Spain than is currently considered.
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