A scintillating, brilliant study of how football gives powerful expression to ethnicity, nationalism and belonging. Through Dalkurd FF, Dias illuminates Kurdish identity with exceptional insight, showing how a game without borders can embody identities that transcend them. Essential reading across anthropology, sociology, politics, nationalism, migration, diaspora and sports studies - and an absorbing book for anyone interested in identity and football.

Bamo Nouri, University of West London, UK

This book demonstrates how football can serve as a vital catalyst for reinforcing national identities and social cohesion among displaced ethnic groups. The establishment of Dalkurd FF and its subsequent integration into the Swedish league underscores an allegiance to Kurdish values and symbols, articulated through the universal lexicon of football. Consequently, this study constitutes an essential contribution to the scholarship on the intersections of sport, identity, and politics.

Luiz Fernando Rojo, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil

This book is a groundbreaking anthropological study of Kurdish football in Sweden. Tiago Duarte Dias' insightful analysis shows how football organizes a public sphere where meanings and symbols are constantly produced and contested, allowing a complex interplay between Kurdish and Swedish identities. This is a fundamental contribution to the understanding of the role of sport in multi-cultural contemporary European societies.

Paulo G. Pinto, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies (NEOM), Federal Fluminense University, Brazil