National Buildings for Nation-Building: The Case of England's and France's National Football Stadiums

Abstract Buildings that contribute either directly or indirectly to the formation of a national identity are typically associated with historical monuments. Mega-structures such as national football stadiums, which were built as national monuments but were designed to meet functional needs as well, play a similar role. This paper examines these mega-structures, and specifically national football stadiums, through a critical review of two such stadiums, one in England and one in France, that represent an anomaly in the European context. The paper offers a local and global perspective based on nationality, geography, and sports theories. Our findings suggest that despite the differences between the two countries, they demonstrate a consensus regarding the need to build a national stadium. While this consensus is embedded in each country's colonial past, in both cases it reflects an inner need to cope with the decline of the imperial power and with the undermining of the homogenous social structure as a result of immigration.