Ethnic sorting in football: A quantitative analysis of ethnicity and membership in Dutch amateur football

This dissertation shows that ethnic background plays a decisive role in the likelihood that Dutch citizens will become and stay members of football clubs. Drawing on data of more than two million club members over ten years, it concludes that members of all backgrounds prefer clubs with a high degree of ethnic peers and few ethnic differences between members. This not only results in a substantial degree of ethnic segregation between clubs, but particularly affects the membership of ethnic minorities, whose small group sizes rather than ‘culture’ lead to high dropout rates. At the same time, o... Mehr ...