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While giving a historical overview of the Atlético/Real rivalry, this essay aims at scrutinizing the building blocks of this cross-city rivalry by analyzing key demographic, social and economic factors at work. First, it explains the cartographic dimensions of both clubs within the Madrid urban space, studying their shifting geographic status while examining supporters’ patterns of behaviour, paying close attention at how Real global branding has turned Santiago Bernabéu into a central touristic destination whereas old (now replaced) Vicente Calderón prided itself of being and old-fashion, locally populated ground. In addition, it looks at celebration gatherings and rallies and other manifestations of team fandom to pinpoint the key differences between both teams in their functioning within the broader cultural sphere. Finally, it studies in depth how different types of ownership have moulded the contemporary development of both clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the relationship between nationalism and soccer in contemporary Spain. Firstly, it pays close attention to the roles of the national team and the rivalry between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in articulating conflictual social agendas. Secondly, it compares how Spanish and Catalan media utilize the Spanish soccer team success to articulate clashing forms of nationalism. It scrutinizes a wide range of journalistic interventions as well as the TV coverage of the national soccer team in the Spanish and Catalan media to determine how they constantly re-articulate the role of soccer in defining the distinguishing characteristics of the nation. Lastly, it studies a series of soccer-related cultural and social practices such as street rallies, gatherings and celebrations in order to determine their role within contemporary nationalism in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La Susi en el vestuario blanco(2003) is a fictional chronicle of life in the Real Madrid locker room, a privileged insight into the sanctum sanctorum of the world's richest soccer team. The hiring of Susi as glamour coach ostensibly aims to boost the competitive advantage of thegalácticosin foreign as well as local markets (reflecting the reality of the club at the time). In Mendicutti's homoeroticizing gaze, it also serves to uncover the homophobic substrate reportedly still common in male team sports and teases at the anxieties of the players. This article explores the peculiar function of Susi as she sets the comic tone of the work and engages with the varied virilities before her. It examines the notions of “glamour” and “identification” both as tongue-in-cheek team objectives and as phenomena with wider relevance for the way spectators relate to sport and players relate to the world around them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]