In 2023 Football Makes History embarks on a new season! Our goal is to continue being an engaging and thought-provoking platform for exchange and learning at the crossroads of football, history and learning.
Would you like to help us develop content that inspires students and teachers, volunteers and professionals, researchers and football communities? Do you have ideas about how to think about football’s history and heritage and the myriad of ways these are made and used in the present?
We want you on our team!
Development of a platform
Our platform was launched in 2020 and has since published hundreds of articles on a wide range of themes, including stories, reviews, educational resources and a collection of short biographies . We have presented original historical content, discussed contemporary social and cultural aspects of football, and explored the very many ways in which football holds a unique potential to engage young people. We are convinced that it represents an almost unparalleled source through which to build their historical awareness and spark their curiosity in order to better understand how the world around them came to be.
Now, with a new Editorial Board, composed of educators, researchers, creative professionals, and – of course – football lovers, we open this call for authors to contribute to our mission and get untold or undertold stories published on our platform!
In the course of its relatively short existence, our platform successfully established itself and significantly increased its reach within the world of football, education and popular culture. We have already surpassed more than 100.000 visitors and are grateful to educators around the world who use our platform during school hours on a daily basis to make their classes more engaging and entertaining.
On our redesigned website, authors are recognised through a specific page, where readers will be able to learn more about them and follow their favorite authors’ on as well as outside the platform.
A strong thematic line-up
To be successful in this new season, our Editorial Board has spent countless hours on the drawing board creating a special line-up ready to tackle any topic:
In goal we put Fans and Fandom, a cornerstone topic carrying on its shoulders the main weight of football culture. Just have a look at some of our earlier stories, for example the story about Haydeé Luján Martínez, a fan who became a legend of Buenos Aires football club River Plate and their supporters. Another example is the story of Liverpool FC’s Mo Salah and the promising development of fans singing new songs of inclusion.
Our defensive center is composed of two themes which have been pillars of FMH for many years. One is Education. Of course we have many educational resources to explore, but also stories of teachers innovatively bringing football into their history and/or citizenship classes. For example a Norwegian teacher who mixes football and human rights, or a teacher from Northern Ireland who addresses local history through football.
The other pillar is Cultural Heritage. You might get inspired by looking at earlier examples of a Dutch theater play thematizing the legacy of a local club, or explore the role of football club museums in fostering a common identity amongst fans.
The two fullbacks in our defensive line are somehow mirror images of one another. On the one side is Everyday Life. Think about work, leisure, school, food, and the many other aspects which we all experience and take part in on a daily basis. An example would be our article which explored linkages between jazz and football. On the opposite side we put Democracy and Totalitarianism. We have many examples for you to explore on our website, like the story of the democratic movement in Brazil and the footballer Socrates. Another example looked at footballers from the former East Germany who fled the repression in their country.
Our midfield mixes together a variety of societal issues which relate to identity and (in)tolerance. Some examples of articles on Racism and Anti-discrimination include the story about the Dutch national team: Black and White in the Orange and the review of the in-depth documentary about racism in football entitled FC United. Other contributions focused on stories about Migration, with articles exploring the Football Life on Valeriy Lobanovskyi or providing an interview with French football journalist Phillipe Auclair about the background of migration in the French national team. Looking at the theme of Gender & LGBTQI+ two inspiring examples are the Football Life on Mara Gomez and an article about the rise of female referees. The final component of our societal and value-driven midfield is Antisemitism & Holocaust Education. Our platform includes many examples, such as an article connecting football and the work of Primo Levi, or the Football Life on Otto Harder.
In attack we have one prevailing theme which unfortunately continues to demand our attention. This is War, Conflict & Peace. Among the many articles we have written on this topic, two examples you might want to look at are the story of the role of football in the start of the wars in former Yugoslavia, or our educational resource about football and nationalism. Last but not least, we want to present our central striker who is driven by what you find relevant. Which topic demands urgent attention? Is it football and the climate emergency, like this article about football going green argues? Or is it a current football tournament which helps us reflect on a variety of topics, like this account of values in the European Championship of 2021? Or something else? Again, let us know!
Set play formats to choose from
Now that you have met the lineup, you might wonder, what the tactics will be? Well, we have a couple of set formats to structure your content.
Most articles on the website are Stories. This format refers to short articles or blog posts, which explore a topic in a light and accessible way, always presenting the reader with some thinking points and references to find out more. This is a very broad category.
Another format is Football Lives. This format refers to short and to-the-point mini biographies of people in football’s past and/or present whose lives help us enrich our understanding of society.
We also welcome Reviews. These could be book reviews, but also TV series, documentaries, films, games, or any other creative work you think needs to be discussed on our website.
Finally, we have developed Educational Resources, and welcome you to do so as well! This format consists of various subformats, which have been designed by the EuroClio platform Historiana, including source collections, lesson plans and teaching strategies.
Which will be your tactic?
Express your interest
Are you in? Are the ideas already bubbling in your mind? We invite you to pitch your ideas in no more than 150 words, using this short form. The deadline is 1 March 2023, and we will quickly follow-up to get to hear more about your ideas and get you to start writing!
Special move: sharing is caring
Help us spread this call in your network(s). Anybody is welcome to apply! Perhaps you work in higher education and think your students would be interested in this call? Check out our Call for Authors Flyer and help spread the word!
Call for Authors Flyer
