Sport in Iceland: How Small Nations Achieve International Success (Routledge Focus on Sport, Culture and Society) - Softcover

Halldorsson, Vidar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0367345021 ISBN 13: 9780367345020

Publisher: Routledge, 2019

Synopsis

Iceland is a tiny Nordic nation with a population of just 330,000 and no professional sports leagues, and yet its soccer, basketball and handball teams have all qualified for major international tournaments in recent years. This fascinating study argues that team sport success is culturally produced and that in order to understand collective achievement we have to consider the socio-cultural context.

Based on unparalleled access to key personnel, including top coaches, athletes and administrators, the book explores Icelandic cultural capital as a factor in sporting success, from traditions of workmanship, competitive play and teamwork to international labour migration and knowledge transfer. The first book to focus specifically on the socio-cultural aspects of a small nation’s international sporting success, this is an original and illuminating contribution to the study of the sociology of sport.

Sport in Iceland: How small nations achieve international success is fascinating reading for team sport enthusiasts, coaches, managers and organisers, as well as for any student or scholar with an interest in the sociology of sport, strategic sports development, sports policy or sports administration.

About this title

About the Author

Vidar Halldorsson is an assistant professor in sociology at the University of Iceland

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0367345021
• ISBN 13: 9780367345020
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 152