MIHALY SZEROVAY GLOBAL AND LOCAL INTERACTIONS IN FOOTBALL STUDIES IN SPORT, PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH 265 Mihaly Szerovay Global and local Mihaly Szerovay interactions in football: Comparing the development paths of Finland and Hungary Global and local interactions in football: Comparing the development paths of Finland and Hungary Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Jyväskyläensis 1938-1961 Jyväskylä Studies in Education, Psychology and Social Research 1962- Studia Historica Jyväskyläensia 1962-2003 Studia Philologica Jyväskyläensia 1966-2002 Jyväskylä Studies in the Arts 1967-2003 Studies in Sport, Physical Education and Health 1971- Biological Research Reports from the University of Jyväskylä 1975-1999 Jyväskylä Studies in Computer Science, Economics and Statistics 1980-2000 Jyväskylä Studies in Communication 1995-2003 Jyväskylä Studies in Biological and Environmental Science 1999- Jyväskylä Studies in Computing 1999- Jyväskylä Studies in Business and Economics 2000- Jyväskylä Studies in Statistics 2000- Jyväskylä Studies in Languages 2002-2003 Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities 2003- JAKAJA: RESEARCH SERIES PUBLISHED BY Jyväskylän yliopiston kirjasto, THE UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ PL 35, 40014 JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO Jyväskylä 2018 DISTRIBUTOR: University Library of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ FINLAND ISSN 0356-1070 ISBN 978-951-39-7313-1 STUDIES IN SPORT, PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH 265 265 STUDIES IN SPORT, PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH 265 Mihaly Szerovay Global and local interactions in football: Comparing the development paths of Finland and Hungary Esitetään Jyväskylän yliopiston liikuntatieteellisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi yliopiston Liikunnan salissa L304 tammikuun 27. päivänä 2018 kello 12. Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by permission of the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä, in building Liikunta, auditorium L304, on January 27, 2018 at 12 o’clock noon. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2018 Global and local interactions in football: Comparing the development paths of Finland and Hungary STUDIES IN SPORT, PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH 265 Mihaly Szerovay Global and local interactions in football: Comparing the development paths of Finland and Hungary UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2018 Editors Jarmo Liukkonen Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä Pekka Olsbo, Ville Korkiakangas Open Science Centre, University of Jyväskylä Cover design by Esa Nykänen. Cover photo by Phonlamai Photo / Shutterstock. Permanent link to this publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-7314-8 URN:ISBN:978-951-39-7314-8 ISBN 978-951-39-7314-8 (PDF) ISBN 978-951-39-7313-1 (nid.) ISSN 0356-1070 Copyright © 2018, by University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä University Printing House, Jyväskylä 2018 “The only thing that has never changed in the history of the game is the shape of the ball.” Denis Law (Former Scottish striker) ABSTRACT Szerovay, Mihaly Global and local interactions in football: Comparing the development paths of Finland and Hungary Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2018, 104 p. (Studies in Sport, Physical Education and Health ISSN 0356-1070; 265) ISBN 978-951-39-7313-1 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-7314-8 (PDF) Finnish summary Diss. The aim of this study is to increase understanding of football’s global and local contexts. More specifically, the development paths of Finnish and Hungarian football are explored and compared in four research articles from different perspectives within a global framework. These viewpoints, in addition to a historical-sociological overview in the article I, cover closely interrelated phenomena observable in the landscape of top-level football: the organization of elite youth football, the professionalization of players and the development of football stadiums. The main research question of the study is as follows: In what way have glocal interactions in men’s football shaped the development paths of less developed football countries such as Finland and Hungary? The theoretical framework is formulated around the globalization of foot- ball within the social sciences of sport. The main approaches applied are figura- tional sociology and the concept of the duality of glocality. The research data con- sisted of thirty-six semi-structured expert interviews with Finnish and Hungar- ian football practitioners, media and club documents and data from observation. The data were transcribed, coded and themed according to the research ques- tions of each article. The results suggest that the player pathways and the financing of elite youth clubs differ considerably in the two settings. In the 2010s, for example, the main source of income for Finnish clubs is provided by households. On the other hand, Hungarian clubs earn the majority of their revenues through a cor- porate tax scheme and support from the Hungarian Football Federation. Simul- taneously, professionalization, growing amount of full-time coaches and ex- panding social networks are typical in both countries and suggest homogeniza- tion processes at work. Since the 1980s, football players in Finland have transi- tioned from amateur status into different levels of semi-professionals whereas in Hungary the movement has been from hidden professionals to professionals. The development of players’ unions has mirrored the professionalization of players. However, in neither of the countries have football players achieved the status of regular employees to date. Regarding football stadiums in the 2000s, international and national governing bodies have strengthened their control over the different aspects of stadiums, indicating increasing standardization. Importing knowledge, increasing specialization and the appearance of commer- cial elements have been typical trends in both countries. On the other hand, the size of the facilities and the types of playing surfaces have been adjusted to the given football environment. In addition, facility development and stadium management solutions have differed in the two countries. The findings indicate that the interactions of local as well as global forces are reflected in the development paths of football. This means that the diverse roots and routes of football mirror the social, economic, cultural and political background of the given country. In Finland, it was a strong civil society and the amateur origins of football, while in Hungary it was the state socialist past and the strong national status of football. At the same time, however, both countries have been increasingly integrated into the global football system. Football practitioners can benefit from the understanding gained by discussing what the concepts of, for example, youth football club, football academy and profes- sional player represent in different localities. Further practical applications are provided by exploring the increasing commercialization of football as well as the ways of acquiring knowledge in the various segments of the sport. Keywords: football, globalization, glocalization, youth football club, professionalization, football stadium, Finland, Hungary Author’s address Mihaly Szerovay Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences University of Jyväskylä, Finland PL 35 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland Supervisors Professor Hannu Itkonen Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences University of Jyväskylä Senior lecturer Hanna Vehmas Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences University of Jyväskylä Assistant Professor Szilvia Perényi Department of Sport Management University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary Reviewers Associate Professor Bente Ovèdie Skogvang Inland Norway School of Sport Sciences Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Elverum Professor Richard Giulianotti School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences Loughborough University, United Kingdom Opponent Associate Professor Ramón Llopis-Goig Sociology and Social Anthropology Department University of Valencia, Spain ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I carried out this research at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä. Foremost, I would like to express my special appreciation and gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Hannu Itkonen, Dr Hanna Vehmas and Dr Szilvia Perényi. Hannu provided continuous support with fresh ideas and in-depth discussions that, in addition to broaden my perspectives in sport sociology, enabled me to grow as a person and researcher. Hanna encouraged me with her always positive attitude and made significant contribution to the structuring and the linguistic quality of my texts. Szilvia gave substantial input concerning the Hungarian aspect of the study such as sharing knowledge of the context and facilitating the access to informants. I am grateful to the reviewers, Assistant Professor Bente Ovèdie Skogvang (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences) and Professor Richard Giuli- anotti (Loughborough University, UK) for their insightful comments. I would like to express my sincere thanks to my colleagues who acted as peers as well as friends both in research-related discussions and informal con- versations. Special thanks go to Anna Lee, Anna-Katriina Salmikangas, Anna- Liisa Ojala, Arto Laukkanen, David Kotthaus, Elina Hasanen, Esa Nykänen, Jukka Lahti, Kalervo Ilmanen, Kasper Salin, Mikko Huhtiniemi, Mikko Simula, Minna Rasinaho, Outi Aarresola, Pekka Lumela, Teppo Kalaja and Timo Laakso. Thanks go out to all the interviewees who devoted time to the interview sessions and gave invaluable contribute to this research. I would