States of Play

This book captures the historical position and contemporary status of soccer in the United States. Drawing from across twenty-five years of interdisciplinary scholarship, the volume documents the development of soccer along five interrelated trajectories. The first section, Exceptionalities includes work that examines the exceptional orientation of American media and fans to the sport. The Femininities trajectory addresses the success and position of women's soccer in the US. The Challenges section considers the range of factors that have limited growth and constrained fandom, whereas the gateways portion reveals some of the mechanisms that have rendered the sport more appealing to Americans (e.g., video games, popular fictional characters, and national teams). The final area, pockets, profiles the historical, regional, and ethnic locations in which the sport has found footing in the US.

This volume is invaluable for students, scholars and practitioners interested in sports studies and American cultural studies, spanning sports sociology, gender studies, media representation, fan culture, immigration and ethnicity, regional studies, and the globalization of sport.

The chapters in this book were originally published in Soccer & Society, the first and only academic journal devoted to a single sport, and includes a new Introduction. The collection balances broad considerations alongside specific case studies throughout – thereby presenting readers with a time capsule reflecting the 'states' of play in advance of the 2026 FIFA World Cup that the US will co-host with Mexico and Canada.