The English Brand was Built on its Stadiums

Soccer is a global game, but its brand is English, says Simon Kuper of the Financial Times. Indeed, the country that has produced few of the world’s great soccer players contains the prototype league for the world’s game-even though English clubs have won two European Cups in the last 20 years.

So why do many of the game’s greatest players play in England? Why has the league become such an international sensation? Kuper says it comes down to things like a love of heritage and youth, and free markets, but mostly, he goes on about English stadiums, and the electric atmosphere they produce.

As Swiss architect Jacques Herzog, who built the Munich stadium for last summer’s World Cup, says, “The people become the architecture,” in English stadiums. Indeed, spectators are so close to the field they feel like they’re right on top of the action. This was originally done to save space, and thus, money. The low, cheap roofs also greatly amplify the crowds’ singing, another facet that makes games so entertaining, says Simon Inglis, a stadium expert. “The English stadium works,” he says. “It’s just one of those happy inventions.”