Political Soccer in Spain.

What stood out to me in the article by Dr. Winkel was the meaning of soccer in Spain, particularly in the national tournament titled the Copa del Rey, or the King’s Cup. The tournament, founded in 1903 has been held under multiple political systems and highlights a deep connection between sports and politics. This is supported by evidence provided by Dr. Winkel in that the most successful teams to participate in the Copa del Rey often hail from regions in Spain that are large, urban areas that contain the clashing of centralist and regionalist ideals. This is particularly interesting because Spain has multiple autonomous regions and the winners of the Copa del Rey are to be crowned as the “Champions of Spain”, where the title has a connotation that indicates and implies superiority over the other regions of Spain with the tournament being regarded by the King as a unifying phenomenon which is simply just a contradictory statement for the King to make. I highlight this detail of holding a competitive tournament to crown the “Champions of Spain” while calling it unifying as it is symbolic of the tensions between centralist and regionalist ideals. Another interesting detail to note between the clashing of centralist and regionalist ideals is that the competitors of the tournament are selected based on their performance in their region and ultimately compete in Madrid most of the time for the championships which is a city that is close to the center of Spain, although a majority of the time does not necessarily mean that every single championship is held in Madrid. Soccer in Spain is not necessarily just a spectacle for the game being played in the stadium, but also a political spectacle. A report in Winkel’s article emphasized the chanting of the dictator’s name at the final of the tournament in 1943 with fifty thousand spectators chanting “Franco!”. The report deemed it as a unanimous demonstration of patriotism and respect. It was clear that the focus was not on the match of soccer being played, but the reception of the dictator to the audiences of Spaniards in the stadium. It is a clear conclusion that sport and politics in Spain are innately connected.