Football, Power, and Politics in Argentina

Book excerpt: This book examines the interplay between football, politics, violence, passion, and morality in Argentina. Drawing on original ethnographic research, it considers the role of fans, club officials, politicians, and others in the spread and perpetuation of corruption and violence within football and in wider Argentinian society. Argentina’s triumph in the 2022 World Cup brought millions onto the streets of Buenos Aires in celebration, but this book argues that beneath the veneer of sporting success lie networks of power and practices that have naturalized corruption and violence within Argentinian football and, by extension, in Argentinian society as a whole. It shows how the actions of club officials, politicians, barras (groups of organized, violent fans), and the police, which together represent a system of clientelism, exemplify in the world of football the system of organized chaos that habitually defines Argentinian politics. With the barras given licence to engage in violent behaviours linked not only to sporting passion but also to economic and political interests, this book argues that football, politics, and violence have become entangled in a web of social relations that illustrate Argentina’s struggle to break the vicious cycle of corruption and impunity. Shining new light on the significance of sport in wider society and the centrality of football in one of the world’s greatest footballing nations, this book is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the anthropology, sociology, politics, or history of sport, or in political science, corruption, or Latin American studies.