Routledge Soccer Histories

Cultural and social history now embraces the history of sport in all its forms. Routledge History are acknowledging this development by introducing ‘Soccer Histories’, a new series designed to attract academic researchers seeking to publish on the history of association football/ football/ soccer.

The series editors are Chris Bolsmann, Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University Northridge, USA and Dil Porter, Emeritus Professor of Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.

Soccer’s reach is global and the series is seeking to make a major contribution to the cultural and social history of the world game, embracing both men’s and women’s football. Proposals for books of around 60,000-70,000 words, aimed primarily at the academic market are invited. Ideally, these should be based on new research or bring new perspectives to bear on issues of interests to teachers and students of History, Sports History, Football Studies and Sports Studies more generally at the university level.

Proposals will be especially welcome in the following areas:-

• histories of the game in particular countries and regions with an emphasis on its role in the formation of national, regional and local identities
• histories relating to the development of women’s football
• explorations in transnational and international football history including surveys of the development of the game across Africa, Central Europe, South-East Asia, North America, South America and other key regions
• histories relating to the institutional framework of the global game, such as the Olympic movement, FIFA, its associated regional federations and national associations
• cultural and social histories of soccer in cities worldwide which locate its development within a particular urban cultural context – studies in this area might encompass key inter-club rivalries and their historical significance
• deep historical explorations of significant moments in the history of the world game and their wider significance, such as the first Men’s World Cup tournament in 1930, the first Women’s World Cup in 1991 and Olympic football tournaments
• the history of the game as a mediated experience –journalism, television and digital media
• edited collections relating to any of the above

The series also looks to accommodate reprints of classic texts which have made important contributions to our understanding of the history of association football with new critical introductions.