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Football Presidents: Towards a Typology of Political Cultures sheds light on an often-overlooked dimension of football culture: club presidents. This book explores the political cultures of club presidents across countries and contexts, offering fresh insights into the leaders behind the beautiful game.
Bringing together studies from a wide range of geographical, historical, and political contexts-from Italy to Turkey, from Brazil to Ecuador-the volume develops a typology of political cultures in football leadership. The contributions address central themes such as local power and football, populism, gender, capitalism, tradition, and innovation. By assembling a range of perspectives and case studies, this volume represents a first attempt to systematically address this underexplored dimension of the game.
This volume spans multiple disciplines including Sports Sociology, Political Science, Cultural Studies, Football History, Organizational Leadership, and Comparative Politics, making it valuable for interdisciplinary research and teaching. It is a vital resource for researchers, practitioners, and anyone seeking to comprehend the complex power dynamics behind the world's most beloved sport.
The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of
Soccer and Society.
List of contents
Introduction
1. Towards an economic and political taxonomy of Italian football presidents (1960-2000)
2. Patrons in German lower league football: a qualitative case study
3. On the spirit of capitalism in football: Dr David Rothschild and Alfred J. Meyers - presidents of FSV Frankfurt, 1925-33
4. Il 'Mago di Campagna'. Paolo Mazza as president of S.P.A.L. (1947-1976)
5. Women's football in mid-twentieth century Brazil and France: three team managers from prohibition to profit
6. One lady and two coasts - Veronica Chan's presidential leadership in the context of women's football, Hong Kong, and the 'two chinas'
7. The ballot and the ball: Abdalá Bucaram, Barcelona SC, and the intersection of populism and machismo in Ecuadorian football club presidencies
8. Roger Rocher, football business pioneer in France with the presidency of the Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne
9. Football and right-wing populisms: S. Berlusconi and G. Becali
10. The revolutionary management of Corinthians Democracy
11. The rise and rise of Mauricio Macri: football, culture and presidential politics in Argentina 1991-2023
12. A team in poverty is a poor team: politics, power, money and football according to Hank Rhon
13. Presidents' president: Erdöan-centred crony capitalism and football governance in Turkey
14. Pinto da Costa, a man of (both) old and new football ways
About the author
Luiz Guilherme Burlamaqui is Assistant Professor of History (on leave) at the Federal Institute of Brasilia. His dissertation on the political history of FIFA has been published in both Portuguese (
A dança das cadeiras: a eleição de João Havelange à presidência da FIFA, 2020) and English (
The Making of a Global FIFA, 2023). His research has garnered international recognition, including a FIFA Scholarship (2015) and a Fulbright Fellowship for Junior Faculty (2024, declined).
Jean-Michel de Waele is Full Professor of Political Science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he heads the CEVIPOL. His work focuses on political parties in Central and Eastern Europe, the political systems of this region and the relationship between sport and politics.
