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My final digital project for this course revolved around the idea of white elephant stadiums, focusing specifically on the Cape Town Stadium, also known as Green Point Stadium or DHL Stadium. I first became interested in the topic of stadiums during the last World Cup held in 2022 in Qatar. I remember hearing about the horrendous working conditions employed to build stadiums and how they now sit empty. I started here, working my way through secondary research about stadia, with specific focus on World Cup stadia, before landing on the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted by…

Link: https://www.sutori.com/en/story/sportswashing-and-political-manipulation-in-the-1934-fifa-world-cup–oukC4uhHsC6UN6q2hSYmdAZq For my project, I used Sutori to build a timeline that explores the 1934 FIFA World Cup. The 1934 World Cup was exploited by the Italian fascist regime as a means of sportswashing. In my project, I examine the infiltration of fascism into Italian football and culture. I analyzed key events during this World Cup, including the quarterfinals, semi-finals, and the final match. Each match Italy played was marked by controversy and pure aggression. This project explores how these matches were more than just a sporting torment, but a carefully orchestrated display of propaganda.…

For my digital sport history project, I created a StoryMap timeline titled Development, Identity, and Global Legitimacy: The U.S. Men’s National Team in Global Soccer. This project examined the history of the U.S. Men’s National Team with a focus on the gap between youth development success and inconsistent senior-level international performance. My main argument is that this gap is not simply about talent, but instead is shaped by structural and cultural factors such as the pay-to-play system, the late development of professional leagues, and the increasing globalization of player development. Using the StoryMap format allowed me…

https://canva.link/vj63r506mrt7ikr My research question was “How has the German national soccer team been used as a tool for promoting social integration?” Beyond that main topic I had several sub questions. These included: To what extent has the German national soccer team’s success in international competitions influenced public attitudes towards immigration and cultural diversity? How do the experiences of players affect and reflect broader social and political dynamics? What amount of different backgrounds in fans have felt represented by the soccer team? How has the team brought people together? I decided to create a timeline focused on…

Link to Final Digital Project: https://www.sutori.com/en/story/from-spectacle-to-survival-fifa-war-and-the-reinvention-of-the-world-cup–rUWQsC33Le2YADHYP45uzR4T What stood out to me most while building and reflecting on this timeline is how quickly the idea of the World Cup shifts from something that feels simple and almost experimental into something deeply tied to the world around it. At the very beginning, looking at 1930, it’s easy to think of the tournament as just the start of international football, something new, exciting, and still figuring itself out. The description of it not even being fully “world” yet really captures that feeling. It was limited, uneven, and still very…

This project examines how the 2022 World Cup in Qatar exposed the connections between global sports, labor systems, and political power. While the World Cup is often seen as a celebration of international unity, Qatar 2022 revealed the ethical costs behind that image. My argument is that FIFA’s pursuit of power and profit played a major role in shaping the tournament, often at the expense of migrant workers and basic human rights. By focusing on labor conditions, FIFA’s decision making, and global reactions, this project shows how modern sporting events can reflect deeper inequalities in the…

Map For my project, I chose to examine the relationship between nations’ cultures and how we perceive their national teams. A national culture is reflective of the nation’s past, and sometimes nations build their culture to fit better the narrative they are perceived as. I am a big fan of the Apple TV show Ted Lasso, so much so that it inspired me to make this project. I have always preferred presenting to writing an essay. When I began this project, that was my end goal: a Google map with a video file explaining my findings…

The digital timeline I created focuses on the rise of women’s soccer in the United States and how it connects to broader themes of gender equality and visibility in sports. I chose Canva to organize my findings historically in addition to visually and graphics. The ease of merging chronological historical events with an array of media formats was a compelling reason to select this platform, as it provided additional context and depth to the final product, in addition to being more than a simple tabulation of historical events in the development of the women’s game. As…

Here is the link to my PRODUCT and to my SOURCES Looking back at the process for my product, a lot has changed since I began, and I have enjoyed the direction it has gone. Having the opportunity to use a storymap such as I did helps because I enjoy the type of media that moves and can be interacted with. I believe that the storymap also helps the creator summarize their points in a concise and resourceful way. Throughout my research, finding certain articles regarding youth soccer in a certain country proved difficult, and I…

https://sites.google.com/appstate.edu/catalunyaspainandfutbolhowsocc/home?authuser=0 The concept of nationalism in Spain means something different as to what we think here in the US. Spain has 17 autonomous communities who all have a range of unique cultural, economic, and linguistic differences. Catalunya, the region in the Northeast of the country is one of these communities. Over the history of the nation Catalunya has seen varying degrees of independence and autonomy – something that time and time again causes friction with the national government. Most known in the soccer world for FC Barcelona – the team that was home to Messi for…