Football is arguably the world’s most globalised sport, and is implicated in the continuing efforts of social scientists to understand current globalisation processes. In cities across the world, transnational broadcast of live matches of European leagues, involving elite clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona and other elite teams/players, is engendering ritualised television spectating, which in turn is leading to the proliferation of ‘football bars’ or football viewing centres (FVCs). Globalisation-induced telemediation of urban social life and subculture formationis spatialised in these ‘virtual stadiums’, entertainment/socialising centres, and ‘windows’ to the outside world, where fanship behaviours are both formed and reinforced. The current article attempts to fill the yawning spatiality gap in contemporary literature on football globalisation and media transnationalism by exploring FVCs as ‘spatial coordinates’ of globalisation, and unpacking its geospatial, socio-demographic and land use changeattributes in a typical Nigerian city. The tentative results revealed significant clustering around the central areas with orientation in the direction of the major transportation corridors.
Victor U. Onyebueke (Mon,) studied this question.