Soccer Archives - Public Seminar

Sex & Gender

A League of Their Own

From Rio’s local pitches to the Gay Games, queer athletes challenge the presumed heterosexuality of Brazil’s national sport

February 18, 2026 • by C. K. Snyder

One of the teams that created the LiGay [the amateur Brazilian “Gay League”] was the BeesCats Soccer Boys from Rio de Janeiro. Organizers formed the team in 2017 with a triple aim: to demonstrate that gay men are indeed futebolistas, to help players overcome personal trauma, and to assert their ...

Media

Eight Months to Learn Spanish

The 2026 World Cup will be a revelation, proving soccer’s arrival in the United States and inviting more Americans to see themselves as part of a Spanish-speaking Americas

November 25, 2025 • by Sean Jacobs and Ivan Pech Luna

On Sunday, October 26, Spain’s two powerhouse clubs, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, met once again in El Clásico, the name given to any clash between the two. Both teams command massive global followings, including in the United States, and this weekend was no exception. The match, held at the ...

Politics

Soccer and the Enduring Nonsense of Race

Austrian Marko Arnautović’s verbal assault on North Macedonia’s Ezgjan Alioski raises questions about race and nation in Europe’s past and present

June 21, 2021 • by Alison Frank Johnson and Emily Greble

_____ Soccer star Marko Arnautović made headlines last week, less for the goal he scored in the 89th minute of his native Austria’s European Cup game against North Macedonia than for his post-goal antics. Soccer celebrations often mix joy and aggression. But it quickly became clear to television viewers that Arnautović, criticized ...

Soccer and the Enduring Nonsense of Race

Uncategorized

Mourning Maradona

Football, populism and Argentina’s civic religion

December 3, 2020 • by Mitchell Abidor

Diego Armando Maradona, the controversial and brilliant Argentine football star, died on Wednesday, November 25, 2020 in a Buenos Aires hospital. One of the defining figures in international soccer during the 1980s, Maradona is the stuff of legend. In his performance against England in the 1986 World Cup, he invoked ...