# Networks of international football: communities, evolution and globalization of the game

**Authors:** Yang Li, Gonzalo Mateos  
**arXiv:** [2205.10599](https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.10599)  
**Date:** 2022-05-21  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2205.10599v1/

## Key points

- Authors explore the macroscopic evolution of football society using a complex network approach
- Previous studies have utilized network science and graph-centric methods to analyze football players and teams
- Researchers collected football game records spanning over a century and represented them in a graph format
- Community detection and temporal analysis techniques are applied to uncover dynamic features and community structures within the football network
- Spatio-temporal analysis reveals distinct developmental stages in football history
- Evolution of the game is influenced by major sporting events, social incidents, and political incidents
- Football's evolution reflects significant historical transitions and turning points
- Study contributes to understanding how football has evolved as a global phenomenon over time using network science methodologies

## Summary

In the study titled "Networks of international football: communities, evolution and globalization of the game," authors Yang Li and Gonzalo Mateos explore the macroscopic evolution of football society using a complex network approach. Football is the most popular sport globally and has attracted significant research interest in extracting valuable information from it. Previous studies have utilized network science and graph-centric methods to analyze the importance of football players and teams. This paper presents a novel perspective by examining the overall development of football society through a complex network lens. The researchers collected football game records spanning over a century and represented them in a graph format with participating teams as nodes and games between them as edges. By applying community detection and temporal analysis techniques, they uncover dynamic features and community structures within the football network. This analysis provides evidence of an ever-expanding football society. Additionally, spatio-temporal analysis is conducted to unveil distinct developmental stages in football history. The findings suggest that the evolution of the game is influenced not only by major sporting events but also by various social and political incidents. Football's evolution reflects significant historical transitions and turning points, offering a unique perspective for studying global processes such as globalization. Overall, this study contributes to our understanding of how football has evolved as a global phenomenon over time by employing network science methodologies which shed light on both its dynamic nature and interconnectedness with broader historical contexts.