On 16 and 17 March, Barcelona is hosting the 2nd International Symposium on Minoritised Languages and Football. Organised by Plataforma per la Llengua, with the cooperation of the European Center for Minority Issues, it will be held at the Barcelona History Museum in El Born and will bring together researchers, institutional representatives, professionals from the world of football and experts in language policy from all over Europe to analyse the relationship between sport, language and identity, as well as the role of football in promoting and normalising minoritised languages. This second symposium will provide continuity to the SGÔR symposium: Ieithoedd Lleiafifedig a Phêl-droed/Minoritised Languages and Football, held in Wales in March 2025. The aim is to establish the symposium as a leading space for debate in Europe on this issue.
Òscar Escuder, chairman of Plataforma per la Llengua, will open the conference on Monday 16 March at 9.30am, and from 10.30am to 5.30pm that day and 9am to 6pm on the Tuesday there will be talks, round tables and debates. Discussions will cover the use of languages at professional clubs, fans' attitudes to language, language activism in sport, youth football and the role of the media in sports communication.
Football is one of the social phenomena with greatest capacity to affect culture and communication at global level. Clubs, competitions and supporters form huge areas for socialisation, where language becomes a central element for cohesion, identity and symbolic representation. In this context, the symposium is intended to reflect on football's potential as a tool to promote minoritised languages and a space where tensions, opportunities and challenges involving language rights emerge.
Participation of big clubs from Catalan-speaking territories alongside international experts
The programme will include a session on the use of Catalan in the Spanish First Division, with the participation of Elena Fort, former director and former vice-president of Futbol Club Barcelona; Xavier Andreu, institutional relations direct at RCD Espanyol in Barcelona, and Nacho Mas-Bagà, CEO of Girona FC.
- Do you want to find out about ways to promote minoritised languages in sport? Sign up for the symposium and come to El Born on 16 and 17 March!
International case studies of language policies and communication practices at European clubs will also be presented, such as the experience of SC Heerenveen with the Frisian language (Dr Jelske Dijkstra will speak about this), that of KS Ruch Chorzów and MZKS Arka Gdynia with Silesian and Kashubian (this will be analysed by Dr Sergiusz Bober, who is linked to the European Center for Minority Issues), and that of Vila-real CF and CE Atlètic Balears with Catalan (this will be dealt with respectively by Prof. Cristòfol Tripiana, of the University of the Basque Country, and Maria de Lluc Muñoz, Plataforma per la Llengua's senior international affairs officer).
Fans' attitudes to language will be the subject of analysis, with contributions on Catalan among Sant Andreu supporters (by the researcher Helena Barrufet), Swedish in Finnish football (the researcher Sami Koskelainen, from the University of Helsinki), the coexistence of Ladin, German and Italian at FC Südtirol (Craig Willis, of the European Center for Minority Issues) and the development of the Welsh linguistic landscape between the 2016 and 2025 European Football Championships (Penny Miles, of the University of Bath).
On the Monday afternoon, the symposium will also deal with language activist initiatives in football, with contributions on the promotion of Frisian (Mirjam Vellinga, of the Afûk association), Welsh (Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David), Catalan and Occitan in the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euro-region (Xavier Bernard-Sans, secretary general of the institution), and methods of promoting Basque through the training of coaches (the sports psychologist Aritz Olagoi).
Youth football, media and language policy
The second day will include a round table devoted to youth football as a tool for language normalisation, with contributions on the Welsh experience (Lana St Leger, from Cardiff Metropolitan University); the role of local clubs with representatives of CE Júpiter (Rubén Cepeda) and CE Europa (Ramon Armengol); municipal institutional involvement, with the participation of Mollet del Vallès town councillor Estela Mas; and the experience of La Caserna football school, a self-managing project in Sabadell in which the former Barça player Oleguer Presas is a trainer.
Another round table will analyse the role of the media and sporting communication in minoritised languages, with the participation of Yuri Carrazoni (Nós Diario), Prof. Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones (an expert of Welsh television), the 3Cat women's football commentator Gemma Mallorca and the sports journalist Miquel Agut of RAC1. The meeting will also include a contribution by the Government of Catalonia's Minister of Language Policy Francesc Xavier Vila i Moreno.
An international space for reflection on language and sport
With this second symposium, Plataforma per la Llengua wants to establish SGÖR as the leading space for debate in Europe on this issue. It wants it to be not only a space for reflection but also a meeting place for sharing experiences, best practices and strategies to strengthen the presence of minoritised languages in sport. Along these lines, the organisation wants to transform everything learned at the meeting into specific language policies and, on the Tuesday afternoon, it will organise a specific meeting with the municipalities of the ImpliCAT network, promoted by Plataforma per la Llengua, so that the councils involved can learn to promote Catalan at municipal sports venues and clubs.
