The Sweetest Goal. Old celebrities, collective memory and nostalgia of the 90s and 2000s Italian football in the Facebook community “Serie A – Operazione Nostalgia”

The sports imaginary plays an increasingly central role in society, shaping values, symbols, and public narratives (Jarvie, 2006). In Italy, football has deeply influenced the collective imagination, producing a rich tapestry of heroes, legends, and memorable matches that resonate across generations (Rubio, 2018). This emotionally charged imaginary is amplified by the ritualized nature of sports events, especially in their mediatized forms (Bifulco & Tirino, 2018). Processes like mediatization (Frandsen, 2020), commercialization, and globalization have transformed football’s cultural meanings, sparking nostalgia for a perceived golden age (Gammon & Ramshaw, 2013) — particularly Italy’s Serie A of the 1990s and 2000s. This paper examines football nostalgia within the Facebook community “Serie A – Operazione Nostalgia” using netnographic and content analysis. The study explores how nostalgia functions ambivalently: as a comforting, idealized narrative of the past (Boym, 2001), and as a dynamic force producing affective memory, performative engagement, and consumption practices shaped by platform capitalism (van Dijck et al., 2018).