ABSTRACT
Although not the most rigorous mode of social scientific investigation, observing what happens around sport can be a good way to gauge certain views, understandings and trends in society. A nice example, when they won the 1998 World Cup and ever since, is the French national football team. Comprising players from (or sons of immigrants from) Guadeloupe, Algeria, Senegal, the Congo, French Guiana and elsewhere, the team has been widely considered as an exemplar of contemporary, culturally diverse French society (see for instance J.W. Anderson 2006). During the 2008 European Championships, players on many national football teams were born elsewhere – making the phenomenon now a rather matter-of-fact occurrence reflecting ‘a continent shaped by migration’ and hailed as ‘European cosmopolitanism on display’ (Hawley 2008a). Transformative examples of transnationalism were on display, too. For example, many Germans empathized with Lukas Podolski, a Polish-born player on the German team who scored two goals to beat Poland: afterwards, Podolski spoke of his ‘torn heart’ and reluctance to celebrate victory over a country to which he still feels closely connected. German-Turks also struggled with such a ‘Podolski feeling’ when Turkey
faced Germany in the semi-finals (Zaimoglu 2008). Prior to the match, in Turkish neighbourhoods like Kreuzberg in Berlin,
Perhaps most notably, even populist tabloid newspapers in Germany tended to respect the divided sympathies of Podolski and the GermanTurks.
