Reinventing National Identity in a World of Globalized Soccer: The Case of the Uruguayan National Team

Cotelo, Maia (2016) Reinventing National Identity in a World of Globalized Soccer: The Case of the Uruguayan National Team. Undergraduate thesis, under the direction of Oliver Dinius from History, University of Mississippi.

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Abstract

Soccer played a central role in Uruguay’s national identity throughout the 20th century. The national team’s triumphs in the first half of the century were seen as proof that the small nation could perform on a world stage. The mutually reinforcing relationship between soccer success and national identity weakened after 1950 when the national team stopped winning and when it entered into profound crisis in the 1990s as Uruguayan star players began leaving the country to play in better leagues abroad. The national team no longer provided the country with glory and the players were no longer mirrors of Uruguayan society. Through his 2006 project, Óscar Washington Tabárez tackled both of these problems. This thesis looks at how his institutional reforms and reinvention of the Uruguayan national team's image allowed for the modernization of the team as well as the emergence of a new relationship between national identity and soccer. This study serves as an example of how a peripheral soccer country can adapt to the changes of global commercialization, retain its national identity, and remain competitive.

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