ABSTRACT
The vexed relationship between Peru and Ecuador has its origins in the colonial era, when the area largely covered by present-day Ecuador was a religious-administrative jurisdiction of the Viceroyalty of Peru, for which ultimate authority lay in the vice-regal capital Lima. In the event the match passed without incident, and although Ecuador defeated Peru in the ritualised conflict on the pitch, neither team progressed from a group that also included Brazil and Colombia. The publication in 2006 of the five-volume Biblioteca del futbol ecuatoriano (BIFE; Library of Ecuadorian Football), overseen by Fernando Carrion, constituted a milestone in the study of football in the country, a conscious effort to mark a step change in both quantitative and qualitative terms with regard to understandings of the game. Despite the various similarities that Peru shares with Ecuador in terms of history, geography and racial composition, there are significant differences in the role that football has played in mediating a sense of nationhood.
