| Sumario: | The writer discusses Branko Milanovic's “Globalization and Goals: Does Soccer Show the Way?,” which appeared in the December issue of the Review of International Political Economy. The difficulty with intellectualizing sport is that the application of scientific tools to games turns play into serious work. This article is technically hard going for stretches, but Milanovic concludes with an empirical basis for rejecting the assumption that the commercialization and globalization of sports is catastrophic for poorer clubs and countries. Fewer clubs may progress to the final rounds of elite competitions, but the increasingly competitive World Cups give countries with no history of success the opportunity to advance, due to their players' presence on the best professional teams abroad.
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