Global Play: The FIFA world cups of the last decade have proved beyond doubt that football is much more than physical exercise or a pastime pleasure. Football has become an enormous economic factor. It has transformed ways of life and is politically and socially relevant. The sport is indeed one of the most effective means of mobilization beyond borders in our time. Moreover, it assumes an important role not only in a cultural sense. Football is more than just a game to be practiced and more than a product to be consumed. It is also a spectacle and a topic for conversation and a source of identity and inspiration even for artistic and literary production. This book offers a collection of essays on the history of sport by experts in Latin American, African, and European history inspired by the new transnational historiography. A central question is in how far regional, national and global dimensions have interacted and impacted upon the historical development of football. With contributions from Gregg Bocketti, Matthew Brown, Bernardo Borges Buarque de Hollanda, Thomas Fischer, Gregory Jackson, Ingrid Kummels, Gloria Lanci, Victor Andrade de Melo, Christina Peters, Bernd Reichelt, Stefan Rinke, Kay Schiller, and Ingrid Simson.