Cultural Lighthouse: The Historical Narrative of National Football Stadiums

The creation and promotion of national monuments is often intended for the consolidation of local identity and the shaping of a national one (Geisler, 2005). Similarly, sports achieve these goals through national teams and national competitiveness (Tomlinson & Young, 2006). One tangible connection point between the cultural expressions mentioned above is national sports facilities, primarily football stadiums, due to the popularity of the game. However, the construction of a national stadium or the announcement of one depends on a variety of social and political aspects in every state and country and reflects those differences (Levental et al. 2015).

An interesting phenomenon is that small and medium-sized countries, with limited sports achievements, often have a national stadium, while leading sport countries (according to international organizations rankings and achievements), such as Germany, Spain, the USA, Brazil and Italy, host their international games in various stadiums around the country. England and France are exceptions to the latter.

The proposed paper examines this phenomenon and focuses on these exceptions, from an interpretive historical point of view. We suggest that the roots of this deviation are in the colonialist historical background of these countries, and in the way different countries experience their nationality. Furthermore, we claim that the construction and uses of national stadiums are an expression of the need to strengthen national identities in a national and historical context. The paper`s theoretical framework applies national and colonial theories to examine the way they are reflected in popular national symbols (as in popular sports facilities) today.