We can’t ‘Just do it ’ alone! An analysis of Nike’s (potential) contributions to anti-racism in soccer

Anti-racist interventions and projects in soccer culture have seen the object of their concern change dramatically over the past 30 years. In the beginning of the struggle against racism in soccer, the focus was almost exclusively on the violent behavior of hooligan minorities and the presence of fascist political ideologies. Since then, studies looking more closely at racism in fan and club cultures have shown that racist expressions in soccer culture are too hetero-geneous to be conceptualized as caused by the moral defects in the minds of subgroups of soccer fans (Back et al., 2001; Burdsey, 2004a; Garland and Rowe, 2001; King, 2004). Nowadays the problem of racism is increasingly regarded as an intrinsic aspect of contemporary soccer cultures. To effectively eradicate racism, soccer culture as a whole will need to be transformed (Back et al., 2001; Garland and Rowe, 2001). As a result, anti-racist interventions and projects are faced with a profound challenge. It is no longer sufficient to single out racist ‘hooligan ’ groups of fans that openly subscribe to racist ide-ologies. Instead, a plethora of racialized relations and processes in soccer cul