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Saved by the Goalkeeper
Soccer and Elections
T
o think that a Brazilian election may hinge
upon the athletic abilities of its goalkeeper
is disquieting, to say the least. Yet soccer,
the world’s most popular sport, has a habit
of making itself political. Time and time
again, political leaders have tried to channel the energy
and passion of tournaments for political purposes. This
political engineering has occasionally proved successful
and occasionally backfired; government opposition, after
all, is just as aware of the immense mediatic power of sports
as those in power. In the aftermath of the World Cup, and
in particular of the Brazilian defeat, it is more timely than
ever to examine the intricate and often underappreciated
relationship between politics and soccer.
Why Sports Influence Politics
In a perfect democracy, all voters would be clearly informed on the policy ideas of their candidates and thereby
be able to make a rational, well thought-out decision on
how to cast their vote. In practice, it is commonly acknowledged that several factors beyond logic and common sense
influence the average voter. From campaign spending to
32
SARAH FELLAY
SARAH FELLAY is a staff writer for the
Harvard International Review.
personal biases, without forgetting candidates’ charisma or
plain irrationality, voters often find themselves supporting
poor policy decisions.
It should come as no surprise that sports results can
likewise influence the political process. In a study conducted in 2010, three researchers from Loyola University
found that a victory of the local college football team in
the ten days preceding an election results in a significant
increase in vote share for the incumbent. The same is true
on a national scale: localities whose teams do well during
March Madness have a much higher approval rating for
the US president than those that find themselves on the
losing side of college basketball. Yet if asked to describe
the impact of politics on sports results, most voters would
describe it as tenuous at best. This is therefore not so
much a case of systematic irrationality, whereby voters
H A R V A R D I N T E R N A T I O N A L R E V I E W • Summer 2014
Photo Courtesy Reuters