The failure of the Catalan strategy towards independence has had multiple and dire consequences for the national horizon of the Principality. Not having completed the Procés or, rather, not having calibrated the forces between the two political actors in conflict, leads us to new times of struggle and resistance. What should have been a national identity transformed into a project, with the rise of the PP and Vox can turn our Catalan identity into a space of resistance.

Sports and politics cannot be unleashed. In fact, it is absolutely necessary to situate the players and the sports industry within the triangle formed by the political and economic system and its geographical dimension

At the sporting level, the lack of recognition of the Catalan sports teams is also the failed result of a strategy that entrusted everything to the ProSeleccions Platform. With the result of the post-Procés, and the judicial repression that unfortunately the Platform also suffered, too many doors are closed. The country has lagged behind in claiming full recognition to compete internationally and is now forced to follow the current Basque strategy, taking advantage of the gap that “the PNV amendment” has opened to the new 2022 sports law in search of international recognition of those sports federations that have historical and unique roots in any of the territories. Always, yes, subject to state approval. In Catalonia, 14 federations could benefit from them.

But the historical perspective is not so bad. Catalonia was a pioneer when it came to asking for international recognition of its athletes. That call that began in the nineties crystallized in 1998 with the ProSeleccions Platform, which received the support of the various governments of the Generalitat. His work will allow the international recognition of 21 sports, with only one that shares international representation with the Spanish federation (Bildes and Bowling). But that little ant job was broken with the “Cas Fresno” in 2004. The non-ratification of the Catalan Skating Federation as a full member of the International Federation evidenced the fear that the State had of an autonomous and competitive Catalan sports system Worldwide. What would the Spanish roller hockey team have been without the Catalan players? After the “Cas Fresno”, most international federations modified their statutes to not accept federations if they were not linked to the entirety of a state. Catalonia also understood that, without being independent, all of its athletes could never have full international recognition.

Sport generates platforms to communicate, it is a speaker. Political decisions are legitimized or pressure is put on them to go in another direction

Sports and politics cannot be unleashed. In fact, it is absolutely necessary to situate the players and the sports industry within the triangle formed by the political and economic system and its geographical dimension. Understanding sport within the framework of economic geopolitics is key to situating its impact on the current world stage. Looked at with perspective, the governance of the sports system is conditioned by the reality of the states. From an International Relations perspective, we could conceive it through a very realistic perspective: zero-sum games between the participating actors.

This does not mean that, knowing that in the end it is the reality of states, and their interests with neighbors, that ends up authorizing new actors who can have a voice and vote in international organizations, sport is not an environment Political actors and civil society construct narratives and counter-narratives. Sport generates platforms to communicate, it is a speaker. Political decisions are legitimized or pressure is put on them to go in another direction. Sports diplomacy, which this end of June has found a brilliant forum in the World Congress on Sports Diplomacy organized by the Donostia City Council and the UPV/EHU, acts in this environment. Catalonia has also had the will to deploy a paradiplomatic strategy in this sense, but the failure of the 2017 attack breaks the good work that was being carried out at that time and work will have to be done to review the strategy again.

Barça is, within the framework of its globality, the unequivocal sign of a sports system in Catalonia that has the will to be unique and endure. And, this means that the club must manage, as best it can, the tensions between the global and the local

What is left for Catalonia to continue telling the world, through sport, of its will to be? The government’s determined commitment to seek recognition of the Catalan teams? No. At the organizational level, only Barça remains. Respecting the meaning of the rest of the clubs, which are essential to weaving a competitive and sustainable sports system, only Barça can lead this international representation because, despite the tensions it generates, it is the only thing that combines globality and locality. That is to say, on the one hand, it is a club that has become a multinational entertainment company or that must communicate to a mass of fans that exceeds 300 million worldwide. On the other hand, its uniqueness lies in historical values ​​that since 1908 have associated it with political Catalanism, democracy and universality. Barça is, within the framework of its globality, the unequivocal sign of a sports system in Catalonia that has the will to be unique and endure. And, this means that the club must manage, as best it can, the tensions between the global and the local, between those who wanted to close the field on October 1 and those who preferred to play the game. The feline balances that the club must make when it comes to political significance are explained with the image of the new empty field, that October day, with the team playing against Las Palmas that wore the little Spanish flag on the back of its neck.

However, Barça has generated a global appeal that makes the institution less vulnerable to the political comings and goings suffered by the Catalan political system. Its global nature, on the one hand, has homogenized it, Disneyized it in accordance with the process of Americanization and commercialization that the sports industry has suffered since the 1990s. On the other hand, being a global brand has turned it into a platform, into an organization that, with greater or lesser strength depending on the moment and its board of directors, has known how to project Barcelona and Catalonia in the world. Barça is an institution that has complemented a country’s own narrative through sport. If not, why can we unfortunately say that “Catalonia has two martyr presidents”? Why is he, more than a club, identified with universal solidarity (UNICEF or UNHCR) and the first campaign in favor of the Autonomy Statute of 1918? The singular value of this institution makes FC Barcelona, ​​​​in these years of political crisis after the failure of 2017, the great organizational platform through which to continue talking about Catalonia, from the sports system, worldwide.

Xavier Ginesta

Doctor in Communication and Journalism and professor of the Department of Communication at the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia. Member of the Sport Management Advisory Board of Widener University (Philadelphia) and the steering committee of the International Association for Communication & Sport (IACS). Analyst at The Conversation portal. Collaborator on TV3, the SER network, El Temps, El Punt Avui and El 9 Nou.