ABSTRACT
The objective of this article is to create a typology of football rivalries stemming from historical and/or present conflicts between various ethnic groups. Such football rivalries of an ethnic nature centre on various aspects, including nationality, ethnic identity, language, religion, territory or origin. The article is also aimed at presenting the phenomenon of attachment to a club – the so-called ‘football identity’ based on some component of ethnic identity. Although the article includes references to specific examples of rivalries, its purpose is rather to illustrate the geographical distribution of this phenomenon. The result will be a general ‘map’ of football ethnic rivalries in Europe (that is in member countries of Union of European Football Associations), which will be useful as a spatial illustration and a starting point for further discussion and research. The author has included not only the widely known and thoroughly examined examples of football rivalries resulting from ethnic and religious conflicts (e.g. Protestant Glasgow Rangers vs. Catholic Celtic Glasgow) but also those which have not been analysed yet (from Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, etc).
