Maradona and China: Perceptions and representations of a sports myth

Giovannipaolo Ferrari; Layne Vandenberg; Paolo Diana

doi:10.6093/2611-6693/8996

Giovannipaolo Ferrari Università degli Studi di Salerno
Layne Vandenberg King’s College London, UK/University of Hong Kong
Paolo Diana Università degli Studi di Salerno

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/2611-6693/8996

Abstract

This article highlights specific aspects of the relationship between Maradona and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to trace the development of the “one-athlete brand” in global sport and the construction of the “foreign” sports myth in China. These aspects include the aligned development of football in China and Maradona as an icon, manifested in the gap in the domestic space for Western athletic icons in China and Maradona’s rise during the 1986 World Cup; the political identity and interpretation of Maradona as a supporter of communist and socialist regimes amidst China’s opening and international integration; and the modern development of the Chinese sports machine and Maradona’s corresponding stardom first as a player and then a coach. We assert that Maradona’s extensive story not only included China, but even reflects the strong sociological and cultural implications seen in the profound changes in Chinese society beginning in the mid-1980s.

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Author Biographies

Giovannipaolo Ferrari, Università degli Studi di Salerno

Giovannipaolo Ferrari is a sociologist and linguist. He collaborates with the chairs of Methodology of Applied Social Research, Digital Methods for Social Research and Open Data, Sociology of Social Change and Well-Being, Sociology of Sports Culture and Sociology of Health at DISUFF (Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy and Education) of the University of Salerno. After obtaining his PhD in Sociology, Social Analysis, Public Policy and History and Theory of Institutions at the University of Salerno and in Sciences du Langage at the Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, where he also taught for several years, he moved to China where he taught at Dalian University of Foreign Languages and the University of Nottingham, the Chinese branch of the British University in the city of Ningbo. He is the founder and academic director of Radio Covid. His research interests focus on environmental, social, and labour policy analysis, digital methods for social research, and public sociology. His recent publications include: Covid-19. Un mutamento sociale epocale (2021, Novalogos).

Layne Vandenberg, King’s College London, UK/University of Hong Kong

Layne Vandenberg joined the Department of European & International Studies, with an affiliation with the Lau China Institute, in 2018. Layne is currently part of the King’s College of London and University of Hong Kong joint PhD programme, for which she focuses on international football politics and institutions. Layne holds a BA in International Relations and Security from the University of Michigan (2015) and a LLM in International Relations (2017) from the Yenching Academy at Peking University. As a Fulbright Research Scholar and Yenching Scholar, her research has focused on football and sports policy, including the FIFA World Cup, the Olympic Games, and football reform in China. She has worked with both the US Soccer Federation and UEFA.

Paolo Diana, Università degli Studi di Salerno

Paolo Diana is Associate Professor at the University of Salerno, where he teaches Applied Social Research Methodology, Digital Methods for Social Research and Open Data, Sociology of Social Change and Well-Being, Sociology of Sports Culture, Sociology of Health and Territorial Analysis. Her scientific activity, in line with her previous studies and research and following an epistemological approach open to the integration of different research approaches (quantitative and qualitative), mainly concerns the following areas: Immigration and housing issues, opinion and attitude surveys, socialisation of youth into legality, local development, e-learning and ICT, education of prisoners, digital knowledge and complexity. He has participated in several European projects on the situation of adult and juvenile prisoners. He is the author of books and numerous articles published in national and international journals. His most recent books include Teaching Social Research Methods in Digital Contexts (2020, Harmattan) and Covid-19. Un mutamento sociale epocale (2021, Novalogos).