Speakers
Description
Since transnational migration processes have changed societies sustainably national identity has become a prominent topic in public and political discussions. Within this debate sport in general and elite football in particular play a crucial role. The case of Mesut Özil – a prominent German international with Turkish background – signing a club jersey for the Turkish President Erdogan just before the FIFA-World Cup 2018 initiated an intense public debate on international players migrant background and national identification. Knowing that many of these German born top talented players are confronted with this ‘national team question’ during their youth career, current research on this topic has particularly focused on reconstructing the decision-making process by asking for the role of ethnic and national identity within this process. However, there is little empirical knowledge on the inverse interdependency: the impact of the decision-making process on national identity development. The presentation addresses the question of how the national team question affects the player’s national identity development. Based on the results of a qualitative study combining expert interviews with biographical mappings with German-born youth internationals with Turkish background the presentation provides empirical insights into trajectories of national identity development within the players’ (international) career.
