Bookshelf: How Soccer Explains the World (Chapter 3)

 

 

 

 

How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization (Franklin Foer)

Chapter 3: How Soccer Explains the Jewish Question

Foer traces the history of European-based clubs with Jewish connections from the 1920s to today. The first club he focuses on is Hakoah Vienna, an Austrian club founded on the principles of Muskeljudentum--i.e., muscular Judaism. And he writes about clubs with tangential connections to Judaism like Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax Amsterdam before highlighting the Hungarian club MTK Budapest FC, one of the most successful clubs in Hungary.