ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the apparent paradoxes and contradictions between the successes and excesses of Spanish football at global, national and regional levels since 2008, with the debate articulated around the construction, representation and ethical ramifications of the relationship between elite-level Spanish football and its contemporary cultural space. It examines Spanish football's cultural influence and significance during the nation's austerity period. The relationship between Spanish football and mass culture operates on a number of levels. The movements for political change have increasingly merged with the Spanish game to challenge the institutional mores of clubs such as FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, creating ambivalence in respect of attitudes towards the emergent forces of Podemos and Cuidadanos in contemporary Spanish politics. The chapter assesses the implications of the role of Spanish football in 2016 in order to reflect on its interface with the complex dynamics of change in the new political order.
