Abstract
Norwegian elite football, the ‘sport/media complex’ and gender are put in focus in this essay. The results from my resent research, which shows the complexity of elite football in relation to professionalism, commercialization and the media, is discussed. Observations were made in national and international championships, practices, meetings and matches in three elite football clubs, plus interviews with 22 players (11 of each sex) and eight coaches. Bourdieu’s field theory was applied, and I show how the field of sport, the sub‐field of football and the sub‐field of elite football are linked to each other, and how these fields relate to those of the media and the market. Increased commercialization and enormous media attention in elite football are positive for the sport but at the same time challenge traditional values in Norwegian sport. A great many conflicts arise from the incorporation of football and from the dichotomy between football and business.
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