Towards a geopolitical economy of Scottish football- An introduction

The lines of scholarship that dominate our understanding of Scottish football have yet to provide a detailed account of the geopolitical economy of Scottish football. The social return on investment data around Scottish football illustrates that football contributes to Scotland’s regional political economy while University of Edinburgh data on both men’s and women’s football supports the idea that Scottish football has international reach. Scottish football could contribute to Scotland’s global affairs effort and yet the most popular sport in the world continues to be undervalued within Scotland’s cultural and external affairs portfolio. Scottish football does not exist in isolation from the broader geopolitical economy with which it connects, something that Scotland has still to capitalise upon. Towards a Geopolitical Economy of Scottish Football provides not simply an introduction but a proposition that football in Scotland is a contemporary geopolitical economic asset to Scotland both locally and internationally.