The Beautiful Game – Globalizing Soccer

Soccer: The Beautiful Game

Soccer, the world’s most popular sport, unites people across continents, cultures, and languages. For over a century, the game and its institutions have been inherently global in nature, with clubs, leagues, national teams, and tournaments drawing people together from around the world, while local aspects such as fan culture have contributed significantly to soccer’s global success. The (hi)story of the “beautiful game,” however, is not only a positive one. Corruption, scandals, and discrimination have plagued the sport since its early beginnings and form a significant part of the game’s story.

On the occasion of this summer’s men’s soccer World Cup, hosted across Mexico, Canada, and the United States, the GHI Washington’s 2026 Spring Lecture Series, “Soccer: The Beautiful Game,” will explore the sport’s impact from multiple perspectives: popularizing soccer, globalizing soccer, and paying for soccer. The series will feature leading scholars and seasoned practitioners offering diverse insights into the sport’s popularity, globality, and financial aspects.

Organized by by Sarah Beringer, Andreas Greiner, and Ulrike von Hirschhausen German Historical Institute Washington in cooperation with the German Embassy Washington.

Popularizing Soccer - Soccer in the United States before 1950: The First Golden Age?

March 26, 2026 | 6pm ET
Brian D. Bunk(University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Globalizing Soccer - Clubs, Leagues, and Fan Culture between the Local and the World 

May 13, 2026  | 6pm ET
Steven Goff (Yahoo Sports), Dee Kundra (FC Bayern Americas), and Chukwuka Onwumechili (Howard University). Moderator Samuel Jackisch (ARD German Radio and Television)

Paying for Soccer - The Financial Hole in the Beautiful Game

June 4, 2026 | 6pm ET
Stefan Szymanski (University of Michigan)

Steven Goff is a senior soccer writer at Yahoo Sports covering Major League Soccer, U.S. men’s and women’s national teams, and international club competition. He reports on transfers, league developments, and American player pathways, provides match coverage and analysis, and has cultivated deep sources across U.S. soccer. Goff spent several decades at The Washington Post before joining Yahoo Sports, where his reporting and commentary track the sport’s growth stateside and its integration into the global game.

Dee Kundra is Managing Director — Americas for FC Bayern München, leading the club’s strategic growth across North, Central and South America. She joined Bayern in 2017 as Head of Marketing & Communications, growing the club’s regional fanbase and brand presence. Prior roles include senior positions with the New York Cosmos and Liverpool FC and work on Barclays’ global Premier League sponsorship at Lexis Agency. Kundra focuses on audience development, commercial partnerships, grassroots initiatives, and championing women in sport.

Chukwuka Onwumechili is Professor of Political Science at Howard University, where his research examines African politics, governance, and sport as a site of social and political change. His work on soccer explores how the game shapes national identity, youth mobilization, and transnational networks across Africa, combining field research with policy analysis to assess talent migration, local league development, and football’s role in community-building. He teaches courses on comparative politics and African studies and advises initiatives linking scholarship to grassroots football programs.

Samuel Jackisch is correspondent and deputy head at ARD German Radio& TV’s Washington bureau, reporting on U.S. politics, society, and transatlantic affairs for German public broadcasting. He covers how political and cultural trends shape sports policy and international events, and has reported on the intersections of diplomacy, migration, and global sporting competitions. Jackisch frequently provides on-the-ground analysis for European audiences and contributes multilingual reporting across ARD platforms.