Today, football constitutes an important leisure activity, encapsulating complex economic, social, and cultural functions, and creating a unique space for the negotiation of meaning, identity formation, and expression of collective action. The "king of sports" is the most popular sport in most countries around the world, and football matches attract thousands of spectators in stadiums and millions of viewers on television. Football can be seen as a cultural mirror of a society undergoing constant transformation. Through this mirror, we can trace the intricate ways in which the capitalist functions of late modernity colonize leisure practices and transform the identities and cultures of football societies.
The encounter between scientific discourse and football has been facilitated by the turn of some social scientists towards popular cultures and everyday life, leading to the overcoming of prejudices regarding specific aspects of daily life and popular sports such as football. For these new schools of thought, the massiveness of football, its connection to the spectacle society and the market, the symbolic and value systems, and the rituals that accompany it make it a privileged space for social research. This turn has been reflected abroad since the beginning of the new millennium with the creation of specialized research centers for the sport, the publication of scientific journals, and the significant increase in research activity and related literature.
The aim of this volume is twofold. On the one hand, it seeks to contribute to the establishment of a distinct research and scientific field in Greece around sports and football and to pave the way for a scientific dialogue in a field dominated by empirical approaches without theoretical processing and interpretive depth. On the other hand, it aims to present to the wider community of sports fans in our country different readings and narratives about football worlds, readings that enhance critical thinking and reflection on the content, changes, and future of the "people's game".

Contents:
- Giannis Zaimakis, "The political economy of football in late modernity. Commodification, globalization, and colonization."
- "We are strange - and we know it." Sports fandom in the 21st century.
- Nicolas Hourcade, "Ultras and stadium redevelopments in France."
- Dimitris Papageorgiou, Giorgos Nikolakakis, "Sports spectacles and popular "heroes" in Greece. The example of football."
- Pantelis Kyrianos, "Reality, play, fans."

Fanatic supporters, violence, and social control.
- Nikos Kotaridis, Nikos Sideris, "The game and the fanaticism of the stands."
- Richard Giulianotti, Gary Armstrong, "The streets of confrontation. Management and control of urban spaces by hooligans."
- Anastasia Tsoukala, "On the "dangerousness" of fan violence. Political power games in Italy and Greece."
- Stratos Georgoulas, "Beyond "criminogenesis". Towards a critical sociological theory of deviance and social control in contemporary football."

Football in modern Greece.

Communities of fans and politics of identity
- Theodoris Spyros, "Football and the poetics of typicity. An anthropological approach".
- Vangelis Tzoukas, "Speech about politics in the 'speech' of organized football fans. The case of Panathinaikos".
- Maria Tsibogianni, "Identity and rivalry among fans of Olympiacos. Graffiti and songs".
- Dimitris Drenos, ""Even if PAOK didn't exist / I would still be PAOK!" Slogan speech and fan identity".
- Alkis Antoniadis, Michalis Nikolakakis, ""Romantics and not delinquents...". Identity and politics in the communities of fans of Aris".
- Thanasis Tsumas, Manolis Choumerianos, "The establishment of the Panhellenic Association of Paid Footballers and the first years of its operation (1975-1979)"