Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Pages: 341-372

Journal: Soziale Welt

Volume number: 71

Issue number: 3

ISSN: 0038-6073

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.5771/0038-6073-2020-3-341

Publisher: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft

Abstract: 
Competition and rivalry are crucial dimensions of meaning and sense making in professional high-performance sport and they shape the logic of action for athletes in this field. In team sports however, the success of the collective also depends on effective interaction of individual players, hence their ability to cooperate. The present qualitative study explores how professional football players handle the interplay and concomitance of competition and cooperation. By analyzing the material, it can be illustrated that professional football players' rationality of action is predominantly oriented towards individual success and the own teammates are perceived as rivals. The extreme pressure of competition sensed in professional teams in combination with the economic incentive structure of professional football prompt players to prioritize their own career goals, often seek their advantage in unfair and unrighteous manners and to "take out" their club-intern competitors in training sessions. At the same time, the material demonstrates that the players themselves suffer from these context conditions. Using professional football as an example, the article can help to develop further insights how actors shift between norms of cooperation and competitive pressures in a professional context.

Harvard Citation style: Wahnschaffe-Waldhoff, K. and Mutz, M. (2020) "Rivals on weekdays, on weekends one team" The ambivalence of competition and cooperation in professional football, Soziale Welt, 71(3), pp. 341-372. https://doi.org/10.5771/0038-6073-2020-3-341

APA Citation style: Wahnschaffe-Waldhoff, K., & Mutz, M. (2020). "Rivals on weekdays, on weekends one team" The ambivalence of competition and cooperation in professional football. Soziale Welt. 71(3), 341-372. https://doi.org/10.5771/0038-6073-2020-3-341