Football and Fascism in the Iberian Peninsula

Daniele Serapiglia is a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid. He graduated from La Sapienza University of Rome and earned his PhD through a joint program between the University of Bologna and the University of Coimbra. He has conducted research in Italy, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and the US. His work focuses on the history of fascism, sport, and mass culture. Since 2025, he has served as Director of European Studies in Sport History.Juan Antonio Simón has a PhD in Humanities (Carlos III University of Madrid). He is a lecturer in Sport History at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. His work focuses principally on the history of sport in Spain, the links between football and international relations and on the history of mega sports event like the FIFA World Cup or the Olympic Games.

• IndexAcknowledgements.............................................................................................................................3Acronyms............................................................................................................................................5Introduction........................................................................................................................................7I. Building the New Man: the Iberian Perspective........................................................................12I.1 Sport in Franco's "New Spain"............................................................................................................... 13I.2 The New Lusitanian Man between Fascism and Muscular Catholicism................................................ 16II. Fascist Football between Reality and Fiction...........................................................................21II.1 Fascist Football in Spain vs. Reality: From Fascist Football to Authoritarian Football .................... 22II.1.1 Football in the Service of the Regime’s Political Agenda .................................................................. 25II.2 How Football Imposed Itself at Estado Novo ....................................................................................... 27III. A Question of Image ..................................................................................................................33III.1 Creating a New Narrative of Football through Francoist Media........................................................ 35III.2 A Mainstream Sport in Portugal .......................................................................................................... 38IV. The Banal Nationalism of Football: Regions, Nation, Empire...............................................45IV.1 The New Nation of Francoist Football................................................................................................. 47IV.2 The Portuguese Empire ........................................................................................................................ 50V. National Heroes or Global Heroes? ...........................................................................................56V.1 From Spain to the World: The Stars of the Ball during the Dictatorship .............................................. 58V.2 The Contradictions of the Black Panther............................................................................................... 61VI. Winds of Protest.........................................................................................................................67VI.1 Fighting Against the Dictatorship in the Stadiums.............................................................................. 70VI.2 The Hot Summer of Coimbra ............................................................................................................... 74Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................79Bibliography .....................................................................................................................................85