麻豆社

Soccer is going to be one of the focal points of the sporting calendar this year, not least because in June the men's FIFA World Cup will be hosted in Mexico, Canada and the United State of America. So we thought we'd start the year by exploring what it was like to be a football fan in this day and age. What binds fans from wherever they come from and what are the challenges that a more modern, more business focused game means for those for whom football is more than just a game

Football can prove an intimidating atmosphere, in some ways that the purpose of vocally supporting your team! but when that intimidation comes from your own fans simply because you are a woman making going to a football match be for some women a traumatic experience. We hear directly about those experiences at an event hosted by Deborah Dilworth, Head of Women's Football at the Football Supporters Association.

In 2008 Union Berlin, who at the time played in the third tier in German football, had long term financial challenges which meant their unique stadium, the Stadion An der Alten F枚rsterei, which is surrounded by forest in East Berlin, was becoming too run down to use. As the risk of having to move, and lose its extraordinary atmosphere, fans volunteered in their thousands to take on the renovation work themselves! Lifelong Union fan Sylvia Weisheit oversaw the project and told her story to Not by the Playbook

Each country had its own unique football culture, it's own chants and accepted behaviors and South America has always been one of the hotbeds of the game and atmospheres generated that sometimes tip the Richter scale! Rodrigo Barneschi supports Brazilian side Palmeiras, and has been to more than a 1000 of their games and almost 100 stadiums all over South American and beyond. He has detailed his journeys in a new book: "Outsiders: A Football Fanatic鈥檚 South American Odyssey."

A tournament like the World Cup always boosts the attendances of the domestic leagues. So it might be that after the World Cup you could be looking for a club team to support. Location is pretty important, but if you don't have a local team you might look further afield and then slightly different priorities might point you towards a team. For example if you like a team that wins, try current European champions Paris St Germain. But if you want a club that's cool, well then try a little further down the Seine at FC Red Star. The club have over many years cultivated a down to earth but still stylish culture. Simon Binns fell in love with the club whilst visiting Paris to see family, before he knew it he was part of the Red Star Ultras. He explains how in his new book Red Star Paris: Punks, Politics and Power Struggles in the Fight for the Coolest Club on Earth.

Photo: England take on China in a Women's International Friendly, Nov 2025 CREDIT: Joel Hammer/麻豆社)