Quando il gioco fa l'Europa. Il fenomeno sportivo come acceleratore dei processi di integrazione

While each individual has complex, multiple identities, which develop and change over time depending on network and mutual relations, at the same time there exists a dominant notion of identity which tends to "invent traditions", to recall "shared event" and to emphasise what belongs - or does not belong - whithin this framework. There is one actor however, which would appear not to have drawn - or attempted to draw - any advantage from the symbolic power of sport: the European Union. By referring to the latest literature on the subject, the author here seeks to pin down the reasons behind this distance between sport and the idea of Europe, calling for the staging of competitive sporting events in the future that may make uo for this lack of common European action