Abstract

Michael Billig’s seminal work ‘Banal nationalism’ described how everyday practice and habits reinforce national identity. Football fans provide a fertile ground for an application of this concept. The community among supporters of the same team is constitutional for football. 20 years after his book, the Europeanisation of football structures could have caused banal national identifications to expand to the European level, contributing to a ‘banal Europeanism’. In contrast to the crises of political Europe, football could provide fans with an everyday practice of Europe. This might change the understanding of in- and out-groups among supporters and beyond. The article discusses ‘banal nationalism’ in the arena of European club football. It elaborates in how far ‘banal’ football fandom related practice is related to the European level. The leading question of the article is How does football create an arena for ‘banal Europeanism’ among football fans?

摘要

Michael Billig 的开创性作品“平庸的民族主义”描述了日常实践和习惯如何强化民族认同。足球迷为这一概念的应用提供了沃土。同一支球队的支持者之间的社区是足球的宪法。在他的书出版 20 年后，足球结构的欧洲化可能导致平庸的国家认同扩展到欧洲层面，促成“平庸的欧洲主义”。与欧洲的政治危机相反，足球可以为球迷提供欧洲的日常练习。这可能会改变支持者内外对内部和外部群体的理解。这篇文章讨论了欧洲俱乐部足球舞台上的“平庸的民族主义”。它详细说明了“平庸”的足球迷相关实践与欧洲水平的相关程度。