The 'beautiful game', a term commonly associated with Pele but traceable to his Brazilian national team predecessor Zidi, is now widely accepted as a descriptor of the world's most popular sport. But to suggest that football is beautiful is to raise a number of questions pertinent to a range of academic fields including, but not exhausting, philosophy, history, art theory, sociology and cultural studies. This original academic work will comprehensively - across these and related disciplinary fields - enquire into how the lofty claim for football as 'the beautiful game' can be substantiated. Essays will be divided into three sections: football as art; football in art, football and art. Specific questions to be addressed will include - can football be considered as an art form; does the sport contain aesthetic properties in the manner of ballet; do coaching tactics impede the artistry of football players; are football fans comparable to art connoisseurs; how has football been represented within painting and sculpture; how does football stand in relation to the arts within the contemporary field of cultural policy? The volume will be of interest to scholars and students within the above mentioned disciplinary areas and will make an important contribution to developing an intellectual bridge between fields of human expression that were once considered as dissimilar as chalk and cheese.

This book was published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.