Discussing the UEFA Champions League (CL) as a political myth, we want to focus on specific renderings of this continent-wide competition in club football. Two broad narratives are identified in this article: a unifying one that seems to contribute to the formation of a positive Champions League myth in terms of (political) integration across Europe; and a negative one that suggests that the CL is a driver for (over-)commercialization and a threat for the integrity of ‘true’/traditional football. We argue that these two CL narratives do not seem to (completely) neutralize each other. While fans may be alienated by the commercialization triggered through the Champions League, at the same time the CL may have a unifying effect by widening perspectives, fostering a common continental communicative space, or constituting an engine of lived integration.
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Niemann et al. (2019) studied this question.
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