EDU Resources
Helping students define nationalism by looking at photos of football matches and reflecting on the main expressions of it in the stadiums.
In this article:
COVER Image
Athletic Club Bilbao and Real Sociedad carrying the Ikurinna, the Basque flag.
How do people express nationalism?
Dutch History Teacher Marcel Put brings us a teaching strategy that uses historic football pictures to learn about and recognize the characteristics of nationalism. By analysing the images, students will not only learn how to approach and question sources, but also develop an understanding of what nationalism is and how it is sometimes expressed.
The strategy was developed with students aged 12-18 in mind, and presents differentiated activities and levels of difficulty depending on the students’ age. All the activities revolve around two main assignments: brainstorming on ‘how do people express nationalism’ and questioning of sources. Because of the focus of the strategy, this is best used at the very beginning of a module on nationalism, to stimulate students’ curiosity, or at the end of a module on nationalism, to consolidate the understanding of the concept.
A very personal inspiration
I was born and raised 5 kilometres from the Dutch-German border – Marcel told us when we asked what inspired this teaching strategy -.
Now I have family and friends all over Europe and I consider myself to be a European. But there are times when I feel mainly, or rather exclusively, Dutch, especially at sporting events, such as football matches. It is a phenomenon I also see in others. I started to wonder where this sense of belonging to a nation comes from. How does it make people, even those who consider themselves to be Europeans or world citizens, like myself, think about their country: ’We are the best!’ And is this thought dangerous? Does it divide people?”
Developing a way to reflect on these guiding questions with his students, Marcel came across several historical pictures, which he immediately thought could be used to start approaching a complex concept such as nationalism by looking at its expressions and features. This is the focus of Marcel’s activity.
Showing how Nationalism can be encountered in everyday life
This activity makes it easy for students to engage with the topic by looking at crowds in a group social context (in this case, fans in a football stadium) and well-known rituals (singing the national anthem, showing flags or banners) to introduce and to discuss the concept of nationalism, students realise nationalism isn’t something from the past or only exists in far-far-away countries. On the contrary, it is something they too can encounter in their daily lives.
Nationalism in sports is something that is present in all countries, and that is common to all sports. We not only believe that “we are the best” in football, but also in volleyball, rugby, tennis, athletics, … . The activities suggested by Marcel can be implemented using images that deal with football, like in our example, but also with other sports or elements of popular culture (the Eurovision Song Festival comes immediately to mind as an example).
Irrespective of the “hook” that you pick, we guarantee that this activity will help your students:
- Learn about how nationalism can be expressed;
- Learn to recognise nationalism in historical sources;
- Learn the difference between political and football nationalism;
- Learn to question and analyse sources.
Get the resource
You can find this teaching strategy on the EuroClio website, at this link. Several of the activities we have developed in this project connect to the concept of nationalism.
If your students liked this strategy, we recommend to check out also our lesson plans on: “What does identity have to do with football?”, which presents several historical examples that can be used with this strategy; and “El “Clásico” and nationalist confrontation”, which analyses the case of nationalism in Barcelona and Madrid looking at football matches between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
You can find several articles and activities on Nationalism in Football at this page of our website
RELATED STORIES You may also be interested in
A final painted in contrasts
On this day, 12 July 2020, Euro2020 would have reached the final. In 1992 Denmark, which hadn’t qualified, won. While Yugoslavia, a favorite, never made it due to UN sanctions.
Eintracht Frankfurt’s Return to Theresienstadt
Football club Eintracht Frankfurt works with 88-year old fan and Holocaust survivor to educate and build a fan culture of anti-discrimination.
Saga of a Death Match
Today in 1942, one of the most infamous matches in football history took place, in Nazi occupied Kiev.

Latest Educational Resouces

Equal Pay for Equal Play
How is the gender pay gap reflected in women’s football and what can be done to change it? How do we help students reflect on this?

Football, Colonialism, and Migration
How did football evolve over time in both the Congo and Belgium? How has football (environments) been used beyond playing a sport? This is a learning activity to help students explore these topics.

Spread of football as cultural history
Students can explore 19th and 20th century global history through the cultural spread of the game.

Three Presidents and the 1938 Racial Laws in Italy
How to study the impact of national law and policies on everyday life? This resource helps students investigate how the Racial Laws in Italy impacted sport.
Equal Pay for Equal Play
How is the gender pay gap reflected in women’s football and what can be done to change it? How do we help students reflect on this?
Football, Colonialism, and Migration
How did football evolve over time in both the Congo and Belgium? How has football (environments) been used beyond playing a sport? This is a learning activity to help students explore these topics.
Spread of football as cultural history
Students can explore 19th and 20th century global history through the cultural spread of the game.
Three Presidents and the 1938 Racial Laws in Italy
How to study the impact of national law and policies on everyday life? This resource helps students investigate how the Racial Laws in Italy impacted sport.
LATEST POST You may also be interested in

Mo Salah’s Song to Integration
Prayer days on stadiums, faith rooms and inclusive chants: here is how English football is adapting to a changing world.

Engage young people with football history
Engage young people through Football Makes History’s own Guidebook and Toolkit for promoting social inclusion in formal education or Non-formal settings

21 short stories of football in Amsterdam
Telling the history of a city through football stories: a celebration of Amsterdam.

Angel City FC: An in-vitro football sensation
Angel City FC, the brand new women-majority owned and run club in Los Angeles

Priceless footage of football in tragic times
Get to know these colour videos of Jewish footballers in 1936 and 1944. Incredible primary sources of football in tragic times.

Historians at Football Clubs 2: Derby County
Derby County historian Andy Ellis shares how football and history and heritage come together in his work.