ABSTRACT
Does soccer explain the world? Or does the world explain soccer? Is soccer a cause of global integration? Or does it result from global integration? These questions animate much recent writing on the beautiful game. Analysing this writing from the perspectives of the globalization of politics, economics and culture, this essay concludes that the game follows globalization trends more than it causes them in the realms of politics and economics. However, it shapes the cultural realm significantly by forming a hybrid, cosmopolitan ‘glocal’ culture. Soccer may not bring world peace or move global markets, but it does bring cultures together under the ‘sign of play’. It is a triumph of the global imaginary, if not yet a driving force in global politics or economics.
