Football (Soccer) RPF Overview

[meretricula.livejournal.com]

FOOTBALL (SOCCER) RPF

Introduction

Football fandom is not overwhelmingly large in terms of fic presence, although it's pretty big for a sport. What it is, however, is overwhelmingly disorganized. Team sports provide infinite material for fic, but they also have inherently fractured fandoms; many fans have one club team and one national team and only write (and in some extreme cases only read) about their own team, since one team can easily provide enough material to keep you happy. Essentially, the umbrella of "football RPF" contains dozens of smaller overlapping team fandoms with a near-infinite possibility for crossovers between teams.

Club teams are grouped in leagues, and only a few, very dedicated fans have the time to pay attention to more than one or two. The Spanish league, La Liga, is probably currently the most popular in fic, followed by the English Premier League, but there are many, many other leagues that receive at least some attention, including Italy's Serie A (once much more popular than it is now), Germany's Bundesliga (similarly fallen from grace, although its most active fandom has always been German-language), France's Ligue 1 and even the USA's MLS. The fashions are cyclical and largely dependent on what team is popular at the moment; currently Barcelona and Real Madrid, by far the two largest teams in Spain, have the lion's share of attention, partly because of the vast media attention placed on them and partly because of their huge overlap (both in players and in fans) with the Spanish national team, which is likewise extremely successful and popular. Spain won the two last major national tournaments, the 2008 European Championships and the 2010 World Cup. In 2006 Germany was the popular national team and the German league received more fannish attention. Liverpool in the English Premier League has always had a very vocal and productive fanbase, and looks set to remain a fannish standby, although in my unscientific observations it appears to have diminished ever so slightly since losing most of their Spanish players over the past few years. (Lesson to be learned: fandom loves Spain. And Germany, but mostly Spain.) In addition to the national leagues, the top European club teams compete against each other in the Champions League, and the almost-top-but-not-quite European teams compete against each other in the Europa League.

A single football team has, at an extremely rough estimate, about 23 active players at any given time, although only 11 can be fielded at the same time during a game (with the three substitutions allowed during a match, up to 14 players can take part). Many clubs also have reserves or youth teams; some have women's affiliated teams. There are coaches, trainers, doctors and other staff members. There are multiple transfers each year, so there are always new players to learn about and former players to follow in their new adventures at another team. Most players move between several clubs over the course of their careers, and in addition, successful players generally play for their countries in international competitions, so they have two completely different teams at the same time. Younger players (up through about age 23) who are already established in a club side might still play for their junior national teams, and in the case of prodigies they may be eligible to play for more than one age-level, sometimes jumping up to a new level and sometimes remaining when the rest of their teammates "graduate". It's a big confusing mess, even for people who follow it very seriously.

However! I have good news for newbies too. Football doesn't have a plot. It's easy to get into it gradually; just pick a character or pairing you like and go from there. And I am here to help you find all the fic.

In lieu of a separate sections on character bios and plot synopsis, I've decided to give you a rundown of the really major pairings that you're likely to encounter in football fandom. This is only the tip of the iceberg (there is a huge supply of rarer pairs, as well as some gen, het and femmeslash), but it'll get you started, and if you decide you like a character, pairing or team, it's easy enough to work your way into it organically by reading the fic. So let's get to the fun stuff!



Overview

(A quick note: these are all intra-team pairings, but rivalries are still relevant. Real Madrid and Barcelona hate each other. Liverpool and Manchester United hate each other. Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur hate each other. Brazil and Argentina hate each other. Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid hate each other. Barcelona and Espanyol hate each other. Schalke and Dortmund hate each other. Everybody hates Chelsea and Manchester City because they're nouveau riche. Everybody hates Bayern Munich because they're just plain rich. Wales, Ireland and Scotland hate England and England doesn't really care. Individual players may not necessarily share these feelings but club rivalries are a very real force in their lives and do affect their interactions with players from other teams even if they are teammates in their national side, or vice versa.)

Steven Gerrard/Xabi Alonso (Liverpool)


Xabi Alonso, left; Steven Gerrard, right

Steven Gerrard currently plays for and captains Liverpool FC; he is the quintessential Liverpool player in that he was born and bred there, grew up as a supporter and it is the only football club he has ever played for. While Liverpool FC is one of England’s most successful and famous clubs, the glory years came long before Stevie’s time. He came up through the ranks of the club with fellow footballer Michael Owen (they were both perceived as huge future talents) and the two won many personal accolades. Their excellent partnership on the pitch meant that the two dreamed of ~going places together, though by the time they were 24 it seemed clear that Liverpool FC was going nowhere. Michael Owen left to join Real Madrid in Spain and Danny Murphy, Stevie’s other best friend at the club, was sold. It was at this point that speculation began to filter through that Steven Gerrard would be leaving to join Chelsea FC (a club on the rise, perfectly willing to splash the cash) though the summer of that year eventually passed and an era of change was ushered in. Liverpool had a new manager in Rafa Benitez who bought a bunch of players, most importantly: Xabi Alonso. Xabi Alonso is a year younger than Steven Gerrard and is Spanish (specifically Basque). Similarly to Stevie, he was made captain of his childhood club, although he eventually chose to leave. Xabi is usually characterized in fanfic as being educated, well spoken and cultured (fandom typically refers to him as ‘classy’) and this is almost in contrast to Stevie, who is a man very few of words and does not appear to have an avid interest in art or literature (though they both really like Coldplay!!!). Having spent large parts of his career playing with footballers who are inferior to him in terms of ability (I’m sorry it’s just true), Stevie is often (still) loath to trust new players immediately. This would apply in particular to Xabi, as they are both midfielders and so he automatically posed a threat to Stevie’s place in the team. But despite all this, Stevie was neither jealous nor untrusting and Xabi’s talent was something he both respected and revered while they played together. Their first season together involved a fantastic Champions League campaign which led to one of the most dramatic finals of all time (Stevie felt it necessary to kiss Xabi at the end of it). Their relationship on the pitch and off the pitch was one of an easy balance with Xabi often calming Stevie (who can be quite hot tempered) and helping him ‘grow up’ while still always speaking admiringly of his captain. After 5 years of playing together, Xabi left to play in Spain and Steven Gerrard was hugely upset and might have cried and many fics tend to focus on this angsty element of their relationship. I think they’re seen by many as being tragic due to their separation. Arguably Steven Gerrard had one of the worst seasons of his career after Xabi left, though whether that was due to a ~broken heart or old age is speculation. (by lightredemption)

For more on this pairing: primer and pairing-specific fic recs



Sergio Ramos/Fernando Torres (Spain)


Sergio Ramos, left; Fernando Torres, right

Sergio Ramos/Fernando Torres began in earnest as a tale of star-crossed lovers coming together at the 2006 World Cup. Fernando Torres, the captain of his boyhood club, Atletico Madrid, was already an established player in the national side, La Roja, while Sergio Ramos, the fiery young defender from Sevilla, had not only just transferred to Real Madrid, but also just broken in to the national team. Surprisingly, given their club team rivalry, the two hit it off right away. Fernando would come over to the subs bench to hug Sergio after scoring, fandom was assaulted with all sorts of lovely pictures of the pair hanging out outside of football (both sporting truly terrible hairstyles, might I add) and Sernando was born.

The main focus of a good portion of the Sernando fic out there is about Fernando, reeling from a disappointing World Cup and tired of constantly underachieving, leaving his childhood club, Atletico, for Liverpool. There's a good bit of angst written about this, because, of course, Fernando had left Madrid- and Sergio.

Fortunately for Sernando fans, the transfer didn't seem to affect the pair going into the Euro 2008, despite the fact that Sergio had fallen on top of Fernando and sprained his ankle during qualifiers. Fernando scored the winning goal in the final and the two were spotted in close proximity many times during the celebrations. During this glorious month, fans were drowning in stretching pictures. The Euro was perhaps the height of Sernando popularity. They were definitely Spain's biggest pairing at the time and fandom kept them going strong through much of 2009 with an active pairing-specific community.

Being a mainly national-team oriented pairing, fandom was ready for another avalanche of Sernando moments when the World Cup 2010 rolled around, but on the whole, this was not to be. Fernando, since moving to England, has turned into the world's biggest homebody. He also entered the World Cup combatting a nagging injury and coming off of a terrible season with Liverpool- he struggled for a starting spot and was mostly considered to have had an underwhelming performance. On the flip side, Sergio Ramos was at the top of the Castrol index and voted onto the World Cup All-Star Team. While they did spend time together during the celebrations in Madrid, the World Cup was ultimately disappointing in terms of providing new fodder for a pairing that relies almost exclusively on national team activity, and accordingly its popularity has cooled off since then. Additionally, Fernando caused a lot of transfer drama when he moved to Chelsea at the end of the January 2011 transfer window. A lot of the active Sernando writers were avid Liverpool fans, which may have contributed to the drop-off in Sernando fic, as many fans felt they couldn't write about the player who had betrayed them.

Sernando isn't dead, though!  There is still a community for the pairing that sees semi-regular activity, and there are a few writers still working on new fics of this pairing. Sernando is also often used as a 'background' pairing in other fics, especially Spain national team fics and in a good number of Stevie/Xabi pieces, as well. (by distira)

For more on this pairing: sernando, a pairing-centric community.

Iker Casillas/Cesc Fabregas (Spain)


Cesc Fabregas, left; Iker Casillas, right

Iker/Cesc is a weird pairing, because stuff like "backstory" and "canon" are kind of irrelevant. They've been on the Spanish national team together since Cesc’s first call-up in 2006, but there are no public-humping goal celebrations, no cutesy twitter shout-outs, no—until recently—heartbreaking transfers. What Iker/Cesc shippers have is a little thing called "chemistry," and also photographs. and OH WHAT PHOTOGRAPHS THEY ARE. The appeal to authors is in the contrast between these two very strongly defined characters, and the way they complement each other.

Iker Casillas is generally known for his maturity and sense of responsibility. Captain of the Spanish national team and of the Spanish club Real Madrid, Iker is a commanding presence on the pitch, respected by teammates and opponents alike. He's considered one of the best keepers in the world, and nicknamed "San Iker," or "Saint Iker," for his ability to make miraculous saves. While affectionate in his personal relationships and with really cute kids, professionally Iker is the personification of what Madrid fans would refer to as madridismo: a rigidly dignified code of conduct that puts the team before everything else. He's fiercely loyal, restrained, and determined to win with honor. One of the hottest things about Iker is, in fact, his self-restraint. His ability to cram towering rage into a few abortive gestures is. well. it's a thing. 

Speaking of self-restraint, Cesc Fabregas doesn't have any. He's young, mercurial, easy-going, and a self-professed fan of Desperate Housewives. A teammate has described him as “the authentic empanada [an absent-minded person who gets confused easily] who doesn’t know shit about what’s going on." This shouldn’t imply he lacks dedication or considerable skill in football—he served as Arsenal’s captain for three years, played a vital role in Spain’s 2008 and 2010 international competitions, and transferred back to his childhood club of Barcelona this summer as an extremely valuable signing—but the fun thing is how he kind of acts like an idiot most of the time. 

And then, on national call-ups, the usually-composed Iker [ed. note: this is a lie, Iker is always a bully] interacts with Cesc like an aggressive grade schooler with a crush. There’s usually some form of bullying involved, whether it’s Iker pushing Cesc over, Iker bullying someone else while Cesc watches, or Cesc latching on to Iker’s back, touching his hair, or kicking balls at him, all of which Iker benevolently tolerates from Cesc in a way he doesn't from just about anyone else. Previously separated by the Atlantic Ocean and now separated by one of the biggest rivalries in football, the pairing is predominantly limited to AU, but there’s a lot of potential for exploration in RL as well, where themes like age difference, distance problems, and the effect of the Real Madrid-Barcelona rivalry on relationships could all come into play. (Oh, and also there's the fact that Iker's the team captain and Cesc is one of his players, which means we in Iker/Cesc fanfiction get to write super-hot power dynamics all the time. It's gr8.) (by tyrannicides and dorkorific)

For more on this pairing: character and pairing primers



Frank Lampard/John Terry (Chelsea & England)


second from right, Frank Lampard; far right, John Terry

This pairing is as old as dirt, at least in football terms--John has been part of Chelsea's senior team since 2000, and Frank transferred in from West Ham a year later. Considering many players jump from team to team a number of times in their careers, a pairing for a single club that has lasted over a decade is something special!

Frank is a wonderful, hardworking midfielder with a strong footballer pedigree--his father was also a professional footballer and his uncle is none other than Harry Redknapp (now a coach for Tottenham Hotspur). This background also gives him a bit of a posh childhood, private school and relative high class and all that comes with it. On the flip side, John's childhood has been rather less pretty--indeed, he's talked about going without food at some points to save up for footballer gear. Chelsea has changed all that for him, of course, thanks to his fantastic skills at center back and his incredible leadership ability that's made him captain of both Chelsea and the English national team.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing--certainly John has had his incidents in the tabloid headlines, and Chelsea as a club has had its ups and downs as we bounce from manager to manager. Yet despite all the drama, we always have John and Frank, together for each other and for Chelsea (and England!) through and through.

Sometimes I think the phrase "their love is so pure" was invented for JT and Lampsy. ;) Seriously, they adore each other--celebrating together as much as possible, giving each other alcohol, oh, and kissing in public. Oh yeah, there was also the time that John, after much agonizing, confessed he thought Frank was the most attractive person at Chelsea at the time. Also, Frank smells the best on the England NT now that Beckham is gone, according to John. And these are only a few examples of their immense love and affection! (by fandomonymous)

For more on this pairing: primer (comm-locked, sorry)



David Villa/David Silva (Valencia & Spain)


left, David Silva; right, David Villa

Valencia, 2006. David Silva, a 20-year-old kid from a little island, has just signed for Valencia CF after coming up through their youth academy. David Villa, 24 and acquired the season before to become Valencia's breakout star, is coming off Spain's early and disappointing exit from the World Cup and looking to prove something. Silva's quiet, shy, close to his family--his father drives him to practice. Villa's one of the best strikers playing anywhere, yet remains perpetually overlooked outside the club in favor of flashier players at more famous teams. On the face of it they're nearly opposites; on the field, the connection is immediate and magical, as they form a nearly telepathic link to propel Valencia into the quarterfinals of the Champions' League.

Their personal arcs from then on are entwined with the contrasting fates of Valencia CF and the Spanish national team. At Valencia, abysmal management meant that despite a talented squad Valencia plummeted nearly to relegation while an unfinished stadium piled them with so much debt they couldn't even pay their players--and yet the same season, the team won the Copa del Rey, a major domestic trophy. They seemed capable of anything--perfection and failure, triumph and disappointment. In contrast, in 2008 the Spanish national team won the European Championships with both Villa and Silva as regular starters. Villa was the tournament's top scorer and the attention that had been lacking from the media and big clubs arrived all at once. It was the beginning of the persistent rumors that would dominate every transfer season to follow, that one or both of them would have to be sold. For the next two years, it sometimes seemed that Villa single-handedly kept Valencia in contention in the league, while Silva showed that behind the quiet exterior he has a backbone of steel and a fiery temper on the field. The drama of mismanagement, the pressure on the club and on them both, and the incessant transfer speculation contrived to create a pressure cooker atmosphere that is also, perversely, one of the appeals of the pairing: the struggles they've weathered together, the fact that no one else but the other knows just exactly what they've been through.

By the end of 2010 it was finally clear that Valencia would have to sell them both to remain solvent. Villa signed for FC Barcelona in May and went on to become the star of Spain's World Cup-winning campaign; Silva eventually signed for Manchester City--a different league, a different country--as he struggled to make an impact in the World Cup and lost his place in the starting lineup. Since then, though, Villa has had problems at Barcelona, where he's played well but below his usual standard of brilliance (although he still won the league-Champions double), while Silva's emerged as one of City's most important players.

One of the reasons this pairing is so compelling to me is that they complement each perfectly. Silva is quieter, more serious, but with a deadly drive and a deeply loyal nature. Villa has struggled with his desire for success and recognition, and also with the pressure of maintaining that level of play, but he’s also, deep down, something of a sweetheart. After all that they've been through, together--unprecedented success with the national team, traumatic transfers, boardroom drama--I see their relationship as a constant in their lives, a deep and essential alliance, something they’ve both fought for and struggled with.

Plus, they make out on the pitch a lot. (by nahco3)



Lionel Messi/David Villa (Barcelona)


left, Lionel Messi; right, David Villa

This is an extremely recent pairing; David Villa only transferred to Barcelona from Valencia at the beginning of the 2010-11 season, where he adapted with relative ease, since a large number of his teammates in the Spanish national team are also Barcelona players. (It isn't quite that simple, of course; he didn't necessarily want to leave Valencia, but Valencia needed the money, and without going too deep into the way the Spanish league is set up, at this point in time if you want to win any domestic trophies you have to play for either Barcelona or their arch-rivals, Real Madrid, and if you don't want to spend the rest of your life hiding from enraged fans you can only ever play for one. Because Villa had never played for either of them, moving to Barcelona also represented a chance to finally get the silverware and recognition that had eluded him despite being a phenomenally talented individual player at quite a good club.) Aside from playing against each other and a handful of promotional events, he and Leo Messi were not acquainted before that, but they had an immediate on-field chemistry that caught the eye of the fans, and the goal celebrations were glorious. It may have only been a year, but they packed a lot into it: in that first season they won the Spanish league and the Champions League and suffered together through an incredibly stressful series of four matches in seventeen days against Real Madrid, which descended into violence on the pitch and a lot of hate-filled mudslinging off it from both sides. The eventual triumph of Barcelona at the end of the season was made even more emotional because it also marked the recovery of teammate Eric Abidal from a liver tumor.

Leo and David are not a typical Barcelona pairing, in that it isn’t based on having played together since childhood, but the appeal is easy to see! They also have an interesting contrast in personalities, which authors often play around with. Villa is about five years older, and he’s only really started to be recognized as a world-class player in the past few years; he’s been around the block a few times, and while he cooled off a bit as he got older, he can still be a cranky little bitch. He’s been carded three times in the past year and a half for slapping other players during matches. Messi’s life sounds like something out of a storybook: born in Argentina, he was phenomenally talented even as a very small child, but his career was threatened by a medical problem that his parents could not afford to treat. He was subsequently rescued by FC Barcelona, who agreed to cover his medical costs and enrolled him in their youth academy in Spain, where he grew up to be the best football player in the world, and possibly of all time. He is worshiped by football fans and adored like a favorite little brother by his teammates, many of whom have watched him grow up. He’s soft-spoken, shy and almost child-like; his extraordinary talent for football is overshadowed only by the simple joy he takes in playing. Every new player at Barcelona is inevitably starry-eyed over Leo's football, but it has been a great pleasure over the past year to watch David fall steadily more in love. (Shallowly, it was also a great pleasure to see Leo playing with David’s two beautiful little girls. Bring on the kidfic!)

For more on this pairing: primer



David Beckham/Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)


left, Iker Casillas; right, David Beckham

Iker Casillas/David Beckham is one of the quintessential football fandom pairings. It began back in 2003 when Beckham arrived in Madrid as one of the Galacticos. Becks settled in easily into a Madrid team full of foreign stars, but his closest friendship developed with the homegrown goalkeeper, Iker Casillas. They were all over each other--joking around, kissing during practice, being goofballs. For Iker, who was very young when he was thrust into the spotlight at Real Madrid, one of the most famous clubs in the world (he became the first-choice goalkeeper when he was only seventeen), and was very serious for his age, friendship with the glamorous but easy-going Beckham almost seemed to give him a chance to really act like a kid for the first time. Still, a lot of the Becksillas fic out there is Beckham-centered--how he fits into Madrid, his incredible fame, and how Iker fits into his life.

The pairing didn't die when Beckham left Madrid to go to LA, due in large part to shippy interviews where Becks says things like how he would give Iker the Ballon d'Or because their friendship is so close, or how Iker tells him after matches that there's always room in the Madrid locker room for him. There's a decent quantity of long-distance relationship fic floating around, but most of what's written, even now, centers around Beckham's Madrid days. Beckham's wife Victoria (formerly known as Posh Spice) features in fic more than most wives and girlfriends, possibly because she is a celebrity in her own right. Beckham's children also show up occasionally; Iker was a sort of uncle to the older boys while he and their father played together for Madrid. (by distira)

For more on this pairing: picspam



Ricardo "Kaká" dos Santos/Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan)


left, Kaká; right, Andriy Shevchenko

The great May-December romance of football fandom, Kaka/Sheva (sometimes referred to as 22/7 for their shirt numbers when they played together) is a bit of a dead pairing now since they no longer play in the same team or even the same country, but it lives on forever in shippers' hearts. (And also in fanfic.) Andriy Shevchenko, commonly known as Sheva, was born in Ukraine and grew up in relative poverty; his family was forced to move when he was nine due to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Ricardo dos Santos, now much better known as Kaka (although he was still going by Ricky when he played with Sheva), grew up in Brazil, the child of a well-off family, a fact which sets him apart from most Brazilian footballers. When he was 18 he fractured his spine in a diving accident and could have been paralyzed; after his miraculous recovery he became deeply, deeply religious, and still has a bit of an aura of saintliness, although his general friendliness usually keeps this from being too off-putting. A lot of fic explores the contrast between Sheva's world-weary cynicism and Kaka's youthful naivete.

Kaka and Sheva were first united when Kaka transferred to AC Milan in 2003 (Sheva had been there since 1999), where Kaka soon made his way into the starting line-up. Sheva, who is five years older than Kaka, became something of a mentor figure for the young Brazilian. After a few happy and successful years together at Milan, Sheva was sold for an exorbitant sum to Chelsea in England, where he flopped semi-dramatically. In 2008 Chelsea loaned him back to Milan and he was reunited with Kaka, but in 2009 he returned to Chelsea and Kaka was sold (for an even more exorbitant sum) to Real Madrid. Due to persistent injury problems, Kaka has never played as major a role at Madrid as he did at Milan, and Sheva never managed to succeed at Chelsea, instead transferring back to his first club, Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukraine, before the end of the 2009 summer transfer window. Because of this apparently permanent separation (and because Ukrainian football teams rarely receive the kind of media attention enjoyed by, say, AC Milan or Chelsea; Sheva might as well have retired for all the average football slash fan hears about him) they are now rarely written together, but they were a very prominent pairing for several years and there is a significant amount of fic about them in existence if you know where to look.

For more on this pairing: meta



Cristiano Ronaldo/Ricardo "Kaká" dos Santos (Real Madrid)


left, Kaká; right, Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano/Kaka is a pairing that mostly came about once they had both transferred to Real Madrid in 2009; before that, they knew of each other and praised each other's playing abilities in interviews, but due to playing in different countries, had never really met outside of international matches and promotional events. However, once they were both at Real Madrid, it seemed like they gravitated towards one another, mostly because on the pitch, they're so very similar: they both have won the Ballon d'Or (the European Football of the Year Award), both are very driven and in love with the sport, and they share a common first language of Portuguese-- something that greatly helps form close friendships when there are multiple other languages on the team. At practice and in interviews they tend to joke around and laugh a lot, and personal space doesn't really seem to be a concept that they understand. Off the pitch, however, they are radically different, and this is a very large focal point of the pairing. Cristiano Ronaldo is loud and proud; he dresses very flashily in designer clothing, loves to pronounce himself as the best player in the world, and very frequently takes his clothing off in photo shoots. He has a son with an unnamed one night stand and is currently dating a Sports Illustrated cover model. Kaka is quiet, humble, and very, very religious. He married his childhood sweetheart, with whom he has two young children, and has admitted that they were both virgins on their wedding night, as their religion states one should be. Where Cristiano takes credit for working hard and getting himself from a poor upbringing in Portugal to a lavish life as a footballer, Kaka mostly thanks God, says that God took him from a serious injury that threatened paralysis to where he is now, running up and down the most famous pitches in Europe. This stark contrast is center stage in most fic involving the two: Cristiano wanting desperately to be good enough for Kaka-- who he sees as pure and perfect-- and Kaka liking Cristiano because he's different, because he is unashamedly who he is. (by luxover)



Bastian Schweinsteiger/Lukas Podolski (Germany & Bayern Munich)


left, Lukas Podolski; center, Bastian Schweinsteiger

One of the classic pairings of the German side of the fandom. Once upon a time (around 2003 or so) there were two German footballing prospects named Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski. Lukas was born in Poland but raised in Cologne (Köln), and in 2003 the 18-year-old striker made his debut for the hometown team, 1. FC Köln. Around a similar time, Bastian Schweinsteiger, a 19-year-old midfielder, was making his presence known at his own hometown team, Bayern Munich. The two rising stars were brought together in the German national team for Euro 2004, and proceeded to be adorable. Over the next two years they got to pull pranks, have stupid/amazing goal celebrations, handshakes, and basically just be as cute as possible.

By the 2006 World Cup, hosted by Germany, Bastian and Lukas had become established in the team. The new-look German side, featuring attractive young players and attractive attacking football, were the darlings of the tournament (ending up third), with Poldi and Schweini, as they were known, being two of the most prominent players. Fandom – and the German media – delighted in Schweinski. What’s more, Lukas had been recruited into Germany’s biggest, most dominant team- Bastian’s Bayern Munich. It was said that Bastian did much of the convincing himself. It looked all set for a happier-ever-after.

Except, well. Lukas never settled at Bayern Munich. A rough first season led to the recruitment of other strikers, and Lukas spent a lot of time on the bench and complaining about how he didn’t fit in and was homesick for Cologne. Bastian, on the other hand, was maturing from a somewhat rebellious but talented boy into an adult world-class midfielder. In 2009, Köln scraped together the money to buy back their prodigal son, and a relieved Podolski went home. Now, Lukas and Bastian (now preferring the nickname Basti), occasionally give interviews saying that they were never really as close as the press made them out as. Also, Bastian is spending an awful lot of time with Mario Gomez, another German striker, who Bayern bought as Lukas left. Their personalities migrated apart as well. While Lukas remained goofy, teenagerish, and somewhat of a homebody (as well as someone who thinks that sweatpants are suitable clothing for public events), Bastian discovered fashion and maturity, both on-pitch and off. He’s even taken to emphasizing “Basti” as his nickname, rather than the more childish Schweini.

This by no means makes Schweinski a dead pairing- it’s still quite popular. Either as was, as angst, as the background of a Bastian/Mario story…the possibilities are still infinite. They still play together well on the German national team, after all, and there’s another tournament in 2012… (by louis_quatorze)

For more on this pairing: picspam primer pic- and quotespam



Iker Casillas/Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid & Spain)


left, Sergio Ramos; right, Iker Casillas

Sergio Ramos/Iker Casillas is one of the most popular Real Madrid/La Roja pairings out there. It began in 2005 when Sergio Ramos transferred to Real Madrid from Sevilla. He broke into the first team fairly quickly, but despite his talent and flair became known for his temper on the pitch more than anything else. Iker Casillas, on the other hand, had come up through Madrid's youth ranks and had long since established himself as the starting keeper, a calm and commanding presence at the back. It was this dynamic –Sergio as young and fiery, but eager to please and needing direction, direction that could be provided by Iker- that was explored in the early days of Sergio/Iker. But through years of club and national team play, the pairing has evolved to focus on the power dynamic between Iker and Sergio; Iker is currently the captain of Madrid and of La Roja, while Sergio his vice captain at Madrid and a mainstay on the La Roja defensive unit, having calmed down from his temperamental early days [ed. note: hahahahaha LIES]. Iker has been known to shout "Aguanta, nene! Aguanta!" (Stamina, baby! Stamina) at Sergio during games and Sergio likes to kiss Iker whenever they're in close proximity. They are Real Madrid's longest-standing couple, and as long as they're both playing in the first team, it looks like they're here to stay. (by distira)



Gerard Pique/Cesc Fabregas/Lionel Messi (Barcelona)


top, Lionel Messi; center, Cesc Fabregas; far right, Gerard Pique

Do you like childhood sweethearts? Goofy BFFs? Idiotic prank wars? Tragic, angsty tales of enforced separation? Happy endings? This is the ship for you!

Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique (often referred to collectively or in various combinations as the Baby Dream Team or the Class of '87) were first united at the Barcelona football academy, La Masia, when they were thirteen. (Cesc and Gerard had been there together since age eleven.) Leo came all the way from Argentina to attend the academy, was undersized due to a growth hormone deficiency and missed his mother, who had moved back to Argentina with his younger sister; he was so cripplingly shy that Cesc and Pique (both extroverted pranksters who probably couldn't even define "shy" without recourse to a dictionary) initially thought he was mute. However, the discovery of a shared interest in videogames while they were away in Switzerland for a tournament eventually led to Leo opening up a bit. The three of them formed the backbone of a ludicrously talented junior squad; the year they turned fifteen they won not only three trophies but every single game they played.

Every good love story needs an obstacle, though. When Cesc was fifteen he decided he wasn't going to get enough of a chance to make the first team at Barcelona and signed for Arsenal. A few years later Pique reached a similar conclusion and joined Manchester United. Leo stayed behind in Barcelona, where he was very swiftly promoted to the first team. During this separation, Cesc and Pique (who are best friends and closer to each other than to Leo) apparently went through a period of not speaking to each other due to "romantic friendship problems" which were not, they want you to know, related to a girl. You couldn't make this stuff up.

Meanwhile, Cesc was making a career for himself at Arsenal. Pique, on the other hand, struggled to make a mark at Manchester United and reunited with Leo at Barcelona in 2008, under the regime of new coach Pep Guardiola. Barcelona in that year won an unprecedented six trophies, and then they kept winning. They were (and are) widely hailed as the best club side in the world, maybe in history. Back in London, Cesc won nothing, and a media maelstrom exploded after he made an off-hand remark that he was happy at Arsenal but would of course return to Barcelona (his childhood club) if Pep Guardiola (his childhood idol) came calling for him. Well, they came calling all right. The will-he-won't-he transfer saga went on for two years, with quotes both real and fabricated from Barcelona players expressing their desire for Cesc to "come home" continually fanning the flames. Pique was a particularly vocal proponent of this idea. Leo was less open about it in the media (you're not really supposed to talk about players who are under contract with another club), but his repeated stance was that he would be very happy to have Cesc back, both as a potential teammate and as a friend.

Finally, finally, the transfer saga from hell ended at the beginning of the 2011 season. Hilariously, Pique tweeted about how excited and nervous he was before the official announcement was made and made a gleeful announcement to the entire internet when he knew for sure Cesc was coming home; Cesc said afterwards that Pique had been calling and texting him incessantly to ask how the negotiations were going. So there's the happy ending I promised: the Baby Dream Team's been reunited at last!

Of the possible permutations of the three of them, Cesc/Pique is the most popular in fandom (remember fandom's love affair with all things Spanish!), although any two or all three is still an easy ship to justify. They don't form an equilateral triangle, which is an interesting dynamic to play with; Cesc and Pique are best friends and spend a lot of free time together, and while they and Leo have the weight of shared history and a great deal of affection between them, he's still Lionel Messi, world's greatest footballer, and it's hard to tell how much, if at all, that gets in the way. Cesc often comes across as the most empathetic of the three, although Pique is very smart underneath the dumb fratboy facade, and Leo seems quiet but according to Pique he's very snarky once you get to know him. There are a lot of ways it works!

For more on this pairing: primer with expanded history, picspam and links to relevant articles



Daniel Agger/Fernando Torres (Liverpool)


left, Fernando Torres; right, Daniel Agger

Fernando Torres and Daniel Agger first played together when Torres transferred to Liverpool in 2007 from his boyhood club, Atletico Madrid; Agger had joined the team half a season earlier from Brøndby in Denmark. At Liverpool they suffered through intense upheaval in both personnel and management, in particular the departure of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid in 2009 which hamstrung the Liverpool midfield (and left captain Steven Gerrard broken-hearted, if you believe certain sources), followed by the exit of coach Rafa Benitez and his replacement by the inept Roy Hodgson. Just as things looked like they might turn around for Liverpool (the financial instability that had plagued the club was resolved when it was purchased by more responsible owners and Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish came out of retirement to replace Hodgson as coach) Torres turned in a last-minute transfer request and effectively forced the club to sell him to Chelsea, in exchange for a very tidy sum. Torres seemed generally puzzled by the outpouring of vitriol this prompted from Liverpool fans, as he believed his loyalty was due only to the club that had raised him, Atletico. Agger apparently had a difference of opinion on this subject, since soon after Torres transferred he gave an interview with the media in which he labeled Torres a "traitor". The possibility for anything other than AUs and hatesex is somewhat limited at this point.

Of potential interest: both Agger and Torres have a lot of tattoos.

For more on this pairing: primer



everybody/David Silva (Manchester City)


center, David Silva; right, Joe Hart

In 2010, David Silva transferred from Valencia to Manchester City, and the fangirls mourned. The Premier League was full of thugs who would try to maim their sweet little Silva, they feared, and anyway, why did it have to be City, a club with no history, funded by some oil baron's whimsy, full of bandwagoners and mercenary whores? (Football fans have a very classist sort of obsession with "history," as in, a history of success. Clubs which attempt to escape a history of failure or mediocrity by the grace of a rich guardian angel, while not uncommon, are almost universally reviled for trying to "buy success." This attitude ignores the fact that only two things breed success: more success, and scads of money. For those who are not already successful, there's pretty much no other way to succeed than to pay for it.) The fans who actually kept watching for a few months soon made a few realizations: firstly, Silva may be a lot smaller than most players in the Premier League (he's 5'6", and skinny on top of that), but he's one tough little motherfucker. And second, going to City was a brilliant career move. The team is going places, and he's arguably their most important player, certainly one of their top three. The fans adore him. The manager appreciates him. And his teammates fully recognize how awesome he is.

The only real constant in fic about Man City is Silva, so I left the other half of the pairing open. He's shipped with anyone and everyone, pretty much. Adam Johnson is maybe the most popular, an English midfielder who seems surprisingly close to Silva, considering that they can barely communicate verbally (Silva's English isn't the greatest). Pablo Zabaleta, an Argentinean who's been at City for longer than Silva, translates for him on occasion. Carlos Tevez, another Argentinean and the club captain in 2010-11 (he was stripped of the captaincy at the beginning of the 2011-12 season, for reasons too complicated to go into here) helped Silva settle in initially. Joe Hart, the goalkeeper, is a big, friendly puppy. A new addition in 2011, Sergio "Kun" Aguero, had immediate and remarkable on-pitch chemistry with Silva, and I expect they'll become very popular as the season goes on; Aguero is yet another Argentine, so he and Silva share a language as well. And the list goes on. Silva is very, very pretty, and his team loves him very, very much.



Paolo Maldini/Alessandro Nesta/Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan)


top left, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paolo Maldini; bottom left, Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini; right, Alessandro Nesta and Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Do you like snark and hatesex? Great, read on.

Right off the bat, this is the only ship in this post that is not really a "team" ship. Maldini, Nesta and Ibra did/do all play for AC Milan, but Maldini and Ibra never overlapped, and most of the fandom interest in the three of them dates from the period when Maldini and Nesta played together for Milan and Zlatan played for their hated cross-town rivals, Inter. Paolo and Sandro didn't like Zlatan much, for pretty good reason. He was basically an ass. Their first significant interaction (back before Zlatan even moved to Italy) involved Zlatan poking his finger into a bleeding wound on Sandro's face.

To introduce our cast of characters: Paolo Maldini is the quintessential one-club man. He played at AC Milan for all 25 years of his career, he played for their youth teams when he was growing up, and his father was a player and captain of AC Milan before him. He also captained the Italian national team for many years. Maldini is a captain among captains, one of the most hugely respected figures of his generation, both for his skill and longevity on the pitch and his tremendous dignity and composure. Alessandro Nesta would have liked to be a one-club man, but not for Milan; he played for and captained his childhood club, Lazio, until financial difficulties forced them to sell him to Milan. At Milan he played in defense with Maldini; the two of them together formed such a successful partnership that they were called the Milan Wall. Sandro's a bit of a petulant primadonna on the pitch, but he's really, really good at what he does. And then there's Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He's sort of the antonym of a one-club man; he's been all over, picking up trophies and then moving on, sometimes engineering massive fights to help get himself out the door. Unlike Paolo and Sandro, Zlatan's not Italian; he's from a rough immigrant neighborhood in Sweden, and he seems to have reacted to a tough childhood by making sure he's always the biggest asshole in the room. But despite all that, he is an extraordinary player, the kind who really does justify the hype and ridiculous ego, when he feels like it. For all that he was a hugely annoying brat, Maldini and Nesta had a lot of respect for Zlatan as a player, and (perhaps more surprisingly) he had a lot of respect for them, too.

Fast forward a few years of more of the same: Paolo (by now in his forties, which is ancient for a footballer) finally retired, and Zlatan moved to Spain to join Barcelona. A year later they kicked him out on his ass, in perhaps the first instance of Zlatan not doing the dumping in a relationship with his employer, and he found himself back in Milan, only this time (irony of ironies) he was playing for AC Milan. Where Sandro, now getting on in years himself, was still trundling along. Zlatan promptly got settled down to the business of scoring goals and winning matches for his new team, and that combined with his peculiar brand of Zlatan charm (in Zlatan's world, you ask people to be your friend by kicking them) slowly won Sandro over: visibly wary at the start of the season, he seemed tolerant and even (don't say it too loud) grudgingly affectionate by the end. It probably helped that they won the league. You could say Zlatan grew up a little and got less annoying, but he's always been the kind of guy who's a lot more tolerable when he's on your side.

Most of the fic is about Zlatan and Sandro, with the occasional addition of Paolo; that combination of angry sniping with grudging respect is a lot of fun to play with, and even more if you throw in the idea that the hatred is partly based on UST. Paolo is usually either a dignified or passive-aggressive witness to the pigtail-pulling, which makes for an interesting contrast as well. Just don't go looking for cuddly fluff, because you're not going to find it!

For more on this pairing: Ibra vs Nesta and Maldini, 2003-08



Resources:

footballslash: pretty self-explanatory. It's the major comm for this fandom. Very comprehensive tagging system, if you're looking for something in particular. Quality varies wildly.

cornerflag: "a bi-annual anthology of football (soccer) RPF created around a general concept: uncommon intra-club pairings/twosomes." If you'd like to see something a little less mainstream, this is the place to go. Slash, gen and het all accepted. They've had seven issues so far, and they're something of a fandom institution at this point. The standard of writing is generally a little higher than the average elsewhere.

footballkink (no longer active) and footballkink2: the obligatory kinkmeme, although as in many places "kink" has been interpreted very liberally; it's mainly a prompt meme at this point. There's a delicious archive for easier browsing, although it lags quite far behind activity on the meme itself, and only the first iteration of the meme has been fully indexed.

touchline: a prompt comm (essentially a kinkmeme, only without compulsory anonymity). Prompt discussion is highly encouraged here, so have a browse through the threads if you're curious.

Not Just A Game: an archive of football fanfiction. Largely backs up content on livejournal but can be convenient for browsing.

Football RPF on the AO3: not anything near comprehensive (this fandom hasn't, for whatever reason, shown much interest in the Archive of Our Own), but some fic can be found here.

a rec list: compiled by yours truly, but so far as I know it's the biggest one in the fandom. Intended to be comprehensive across the entire fandom, and updated regularly. The recs for crack_van come from here, but trust me, there's plenty more where they came from.

the footballslash fandom revival post: a hilarious post by pendules in the summer of 2010 inviting long-standing members of fandom to walk down memory lane. Well worth reading through the comments, if only for the pictures.

mountainpeople: a long-since defunct fic exchange community, primarily included because the fic produced for it is pretty high-quality on average, still freely available, and fun to browse, especially from a historical perspective. (this is what people were shipping in 2007!)

manndecker: the German football fandom comm. Some German-language fic is posted here, if you prefer to read in German.

Fussball at fanfiktion.de: basically the German ff.net.

furia_roja: Spanish-language football fandom comm.

dietrolequinte: Italian-language RPF comm; football tag is here.

Sports RPF at fanworld.it: Italian archive with some football fic.

world_cup_slash: not terribly active anymore, and heavily weighted towards Germany, but if that’s what you’re looking for check it out!

footiefic: another fic comm, although not as popular as footballslash. Also accepts het.

ontd_football: for fun, not for fic!


note: general policy on crack_van, for those who are not familiar with the community, is that additional links and information go in the comments; I lose all ability to edit this post at the end of September 2011, so I couldn't include anything else even if I wanted to. if I have missed any resources that you think belong in a football fandom overview (such as communities, primers, rec lists, or any other source that may be helpful for a new member of fandom) just go ahead and link to it in the comments!