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Book Contents : Prefaces by Gérard Houllier (then manager of Liverpool FC) and Olivier Poivre d'Arvor (then Directeur de l'Institut Français de Londres, now Directeur de CulturesFrance, Min. Aff. Etr.) Series editor's Preface - Tony Mangan (Strathclyde University) 1. Introduction - France and France 98, Hugh Dauncey & Geoff Hare (Newcastle University) 2. The State, Economics and Sport, Pierre Bourdieu (Collège de France, until his death in 2002) 3. French Football from its Origins to 1984, Ian Pickup (Birmingham University) 4. The French National Team and National Identity, John Marks (now Nottingham Trent University) 5. The Organisation of French Football Today, James Eastham (freelance sports journalist) 6. Fans and Heroes, Patrick Mignon (INSEP, Paris) 7. Building the Finals: Facilities and Infrastructure, Hugh Dauncey 8. Buying and Selling the World Cup, Geoff Hare 9. Policing and Security: terrorists and hooligans, Claude Journès (Président Université de Lyon Lumière) 10. Reporting the World Cup: Old and New Media, Lucy McKeever (now Newcastle University) 11. 33 jours de fête - a Diary of France 98, Hugh Dauncey & Geoff Hare 12. Conclusion- The Impact of France 98, Hugh Dauncey & Geoff Hare Index Translations by Dr John Roach (Aberdeen University)

The book was published in French translation, with certain omissions decided by the French publisher and not approved by the authors, in 2002 as Les Français et la Coupe du Monde de 1998 (Paris: Nouveau Monde) See also an article by Geoff Hare, 'Get your kit on for the lads': Adidas versus Nike, the other World Cup in SOSOL - sociology of Sport on-line, vol.2, issue 2

Reviews:
Jason Cowley, literary editor of the New Stateman said in a review of the book: "France and the 1998 World Cup is written in the flat, unexcitable style of a sociology textbook, yet it eschews jargon and has a curious readability. It is particularly good on how nationalism finds expression on the sporting field, on how issues of culture and identity spiral as tightly as DNA around sport, on how football can take the form of a kind of surrogate war. Mussolini, as John Marks points out in his essay, recognised the potential for fascist propaganda when Italy staged the 1934 World Cup, identifying the national team as "soldiers in the service of the national cause". And when Margaret Thatcher, in an episode not mentioned here, was guest of honour at a Scottish Cup Final in the 1980s, she was reportedly shocked to see fans of Glasgow Celtic waving the Irish tricolour and to hear the national anthem jeered. Here was a manifestation of the detachment that many Scots felt from the British union, and a portent of the Tory electoral disasters to follow north of the border.

In France during the summer, much was made of the diverse racial mix of the home team. In a country where Jean-Marie Le Pen's populist far-right Front National gained more than 15 per cent of the vote, the multiracialism of the champions was claimed as a metaphor for the emerging ethnic harmony of the modern French nation - a nation hitherto in flight from modernity and anxious about globalisation (for which read Americanisation). Of those who played in the final, Thuram is from the Caribbean, Desailly, Vieira and Karembeu were born in present or former French African colonies, two-goal Zinedine Zidane has Algerian parents, Djorkaeff and Boghossian are ethnic Armenians, Barthez has Spanish grandparents and Lizarazu is Basque. All of which was too much for Le Pen, who complained that several players did not sing the "Marseillaise" or "visibly did not know the words".

Perhaps France 98 will be seen as the last great World Cup of its kind. The coming overlit future of intensified commercialism, pay-per-view television, grotesquely rich players, their earnings swollen by the Bosman ruling on freedom of contract, inflated ticket prices and anodyne, besuited, bourgeois spectators inspires dread. One yearns for the rough dangers and uncertainties of the 1970s, if not for the racism and violence of the terraces. Football is dead, long live the beautiful game."
New Statesman (1996) 3/5/1999.

In The Times Online, March 19th, 1999, Sarah Howard wrote:
"This enjoyable collection of essays edited by Hugh Dauncey and Geoff Hare describes the economic, cultural and sporting dimensions of organizing, and subsequently winning, the World Cup. Its overriding theme, however, is that the World Cup uplifted a France riven with economic problems and social tensions. ... The first section of the book focuses on the organization of the competition and the construction of a suitable sporting infrastructure. It demonstrates how France blended modern commercialism with the traditional republican view of sport as a semi-amateur public service, and asks whether this model can be extended to other areas of the French economy. The final essays discuss the impact of winning the World Cup, capturing the excitement as the nation realized that its team was on the way to a Final with Brazil. The victory saw millions stream on to the Champs-Elysees in an atmosphere that many compared to the Liberation. They celebrated a French squad which seemed a hopeful metaphor for modern France, overcoming its lack of self-confidence with the help of a derided provincial coach, Aime Jacquet, who had cemented men of diverse ethnic and social origins into a team of world-beaters. While the question of whether a sporting event can change a nation remains unanswered, the book demonstrates that the 1998 World Cup is worthy of attention as much for its impact on contemporary France as for its football."

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