The World Cup will not take place

soccer loverthe Italian writer Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote in the 1960s that “sport is such an important phenomenon of civilization that it should neither be ignored nor overlooked by the ruling class and intellectuals” (The fields. sports writing, 1971). Today sport, especially football, is certainly not neglected by any political power. We have been able to probe its unifying potential and its emancipatory effectiveness, as well as its propaganda force and the power of entertainment and control it exercises over souls. However, let us remember, entertainment already figured for Etienne de La Boétie among the means identified for voluntarily enslaving the people by regulating the fervor of his imagination (From voluntary servitude, 1576). As much a hallmark of sports entertainment as it is a realm of jubilation and popular solidarity, the World Cup in particular has never really been far from politics.