Conference Agenda

Football in Sweden boasts the highest membership of any sport, with just over 1,700,000 members, constituting approximately a quarter of all sports members (Swedish Sports Confederation, 2024). Moreover, among adolescents, football has the highest participation rate in Sweden (Fröberg et al., 2020) and Europe (Hulteen et al., 2017). Similar to the leisure context, football is also observed during the school context, such as during recess (Pawlowski et al., 2015) and physical education (Larsson & Karlefors, 2015). Football during recess is an activity that has been suggested to uphold gender norms and exclusion among European pupils, predominantly benefiting boys (González-Calvo et al., 2025; Pawlowski et al., 2015). Furthermore, Pawlowski et al. (2018) reported that in some schools, football is the only activity available during recess, limiting girls’ participation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, little research in Sweden has examined football as a physical activity during school time. While existing European studies on football as a physical activity during school time have primarily emphasised power relations in isolation (González-Calvo et al., 2025; Martínez-García & Rodríguez-Menéndez, 2020; Pawlowski et al., 2015; Pawlowski et al., 2018), there is a need to move beyond this single-axis perspective and adopt an intersectional perspective. Unlike a single-axis perspective that treats social categories in isolation (Collins, 2019), an intersectional perspective examines the intersections of social categories and their systems of oppression (Crenshaw, 1991). This study will examine the interaction of power relations concerning gender and age, considering how these social categories have among European pupils been reported to relate to norms and power dynamics in football as a physical activity during school time (Martínez-García & Rodríguez-Menéndez, 2020; Pawlowski et al., 2015).

Additionally, no study has intersectionally examined how power relations within football during school time operate across various levels. Patricia Hill Collins, a prominent researcher in intersectionality, has introduced the concept of the Matrix of Domination, which examines how power operates at various levels. The Matrix of Domination, as outlined by Collins (2000), consists of four domains, namely a) structural domain (organisation of power), b) disciplinary domain (management of power), c) hegemonic domain (justification of power), and d) interpersonal domain (influences daily experiences and individual awareness).

Using an intersectional perspective and the Matrix of Domination as a theoretical framework, this study examines how power relations related to gender and age are structured within football during school time in two municipally operated schools in Sweden. The research question is as follows: How are power relations related to gender and age organised across the individual, institutional, and structural levels within football during school time?

Although many children and young people participate in sport after school-hours, large differences are reported among different groups of young people (Strandbu & Bakken, 2024). Importantly, there are great demographic differences in relation to gender and ethnicity (Strandbu & Bakken, 2024). This inequality is also persistent when factors like socioeconomic resources is taken into account (Bakken, 2019).

In a society where sport participation has become increasingly based on parental influence and economic resources (Strandbu et al., 2020), school is a consistent meeting point for young people with diverse background. This paper reports on research conducted in Norway, a country where school and sport traditionally are divided, and the research question for this poster is “How do CARM girls experience the role of schools in promoting sport participation?”

This research adopts an intersectional and decolonial lens. Literature indicates that the lower sport participation among CARM girls results from intersecting factors rather than a single cause (Strandbu et al., 2020). To avoid a one-sided focus on individual factors and to have a more comprehensive understanding of CARM girls' participation in sports, an intersectional perspective has been central to understand the research question. Intersectionality is a concept that is used to explain how several individual factors interact and overlap to shape the individual’s unique experience of discrimination or privilege (Anthias, 1998).

Decoloniality, the second theoretical perspective underpinning this research, describes how modernity is deeply connected with the European colonial domination over the world (Quijano, 2007). When applying a decolonial lens, the research is challenging ‘who, when, why and where’ knowledge is generated (Mignolo, 2009, p. 160). Furthermore, a decolonial feminist perspective has been presented as means of enabling alternative modes of thinking and being in the world, and as a way of delinking knowledge from Western premises (Lugones, 2010). When adapting this perspective to the CARM girls participating in this project, it is important to let them be the active agents in the knowledge developed, and to use methods that align with this approach.

Introduction

The word ‘academy’ traditionally refers to a higher education institution. Nowadays, the term is also commonly used for more advanced youth sports training, and academies exist across various sports (Karlsson, 2022). he focus of sports academies is on developing children and youth into high-performance athletes (Baker et al, 2018). Therefore, the youth involved in academy programs are considered the most talented, making these programs prestigious and sought-after. As such, they are often held up as exemplary and positive entities. However, their practices contain controversial elements that have been debated for years, such as early specialization and the selection of young players. Academies thus seem to be value-laden entities.

Parallel with the emergence of academies, studies continue to show that the path to sporting success is characterised by late specialisation (Gülich et al, 2022; Söderström & Garn, 2022). Still, the notion of talent and talent identification is prominent in most athlete development models. Early identification and selection are even described as “the modus operandi of high-performance sport“ (Baker et al, 2018, p 48). In Scandinavia, where a ‘sport for all’ policy has traditionally been the “modus operandi” of children’s and youth sport, there is also an increased interest in early talent identification and the fostering of top athletes. Not least football academies are on the rise, and on the webpage of the Swedish Football Federation, it says: “we are seeing a football academy boom in Sweden”. According to the same source, this boom started with the certified academies, which are run by elite clubs in the highest male leagues. Then it spread to elite female leagues and to large grassroots clubs when they started to convert their first junior teams into academy teams.

Some academies, the certified ones, seem to influence and set the standard also for how local grassroots clubs organise sport for children and youth. To certify, classify or audit academies is common within the global elite sector of football (Roe & Parker, 2016). How the content of such audit or classification resonates with other values relating to youth sports, has caught some attention. Skille et al (2023), for example, mean that the classification system of academies in Norway has a performance-driven orientation that “may conflict with longstanding commitments to egalitarianism, inclusion, and the broader social value of youth sport”. In Sweden, the guidelines for youth sport have a child rights perspective as a starting point, and the idea is that sport should be conducted in the best interest of the child (Agergaard, 2024).

Aim and research questions

The interest association of the male elite football clubs (SEF) in the highest leagues has developed a specific certification and scoring system for youth academies. The stated purpose of this system is to “certify” or assure the quality of the approximately 40 academies directed at young players aged 10–19. This study aims to critically review and analyse the ascribed values in this certification system from a child rights perspective. Key research questions are: What is valued as good practice and a developmental environment? Which aspects that are assessed can be related to children’s rights? What is not valued? The purpose is to contribute knowledge about different value systems in Swedish child and youth sport.

Theoretical framework

A two-fold theoretical framework guides this analysis. First, we adopt a children’s rights perspective to examine whether the categories of children’s rights are reflected in the academy certification model. Second, we will employ the concepts of symbolic capital, doxa, and illusio, introduced by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1989; 1990), as analytical tools.

Children have always been the most affected by migration. According to data from the UN (2025) the number of international migrants worldwide stood at 304 million. Europe hosted more international migrants than other regions with 94 million in 2024. Therefore, the integration of refugee children (28 million -1.4% of the world's children) into society is a crucial issue. The global refugee crisis also presents a significant socio-economic challenge for host societies.

Yeh et al. (2008) found that the cultural shock experienced by young immigrants after leaving their families and homelands can lead to traumatic problems such as inability to communicate, feelings of helplessness and vulnerability, and the emergence of unexpected fears in the host country. Young people experience difficulties with conflicting cultural values ​​and are resistant to the host country's culture despite socio-emotional support. Young people and children need very good support during this process (Kaya et al., 2021). However, it is also important to note that if newly arrived refugee youth are properly guided with education during the transition period, they can develop a sense of belonging and achievement for the community they join, and can turn their multicultural and multilingual characteristics into strengths of the society they adapt to (Olliff, 2008).

Sport alone may not magically solve complex problems like refugee integration. However, many scientists consider sport to be a shining symbol of justice, teamwork, and respect in the process of adapting to a new country where loss, prejudice, and exclusion may prevail. Therefore, making sport a part of this complex puzzle suggests that many problems can be solved more easily (Doidge et al.).

Sport plays a very important role in the daily lives of many young people. This role is even more significant for refugee children. The most important reason for this is that sport provides young people with an environment where they can be together and socialize. Through the body language they use during sports, people can express themselves nonverbally, build relationships, and more easily achieve their goals. Although there is little research on the impact of sport on people from different cultures within the same society, studies conducted so far indicate that sport is used as a tool for reconciliation and social identity building in areas of cultural conflict, helping individuals adapt to their new countries and develop social and cultural skills (Stura & Johnston, 2018; Spaaij, 2015). Studies on trauma mitigation have suggested that sports or physical activities can influence the integration process of newcomers, such as refugees or migrants, within a host society (Ha & Lyras, 2013).

Countries receiving migrants use sport as a tool for the adaptation and social development of migrants in refugee regions. This research investigates whether sport plays a role in the adaptation of Syrian children migrating to Turkey, and if so, what kind of role it plays.

Studies show that acculturation and integration are multi-dimensional processes. It is stated that in this process, individuals as well as the host society play a decisive role, and that with the support of the community, one can become part of the system and achieve social cohesion. The European Commission also acknowledges the important role of sport in integration into a community. Furthermore, it has been shown that sport has a significant impact on migrants establishing relationships with the local population, reducing social isolation in the country of residence, and increasing contact between groups. The results also indicate that physical activity programs support the positive and successful adaptation of refugee children and young people to their new country (Flensner et al., 2021).