A highly popular sport, soccer entered the elitist fields of science and art a long time ago. One of the probably most prominent examples of the last few years is political scientist Eva Kreisky: she edited the book /Arena der Männlichkeit/ (Arena of Masculinity, 2006), which deals with the most important topics of critical research on soccer. An early example is the sociologist Norbert Elias, who saw sports and games as indicators of the civilization process. In the 1950s, Elias frequented the games of his soccer team Leicester City. There he met Eric Dunning, a former soccer player who later became a sociologist.

*Combining science and praxis*, these two men produced many scientific analyses of soccer. Originating from this initial research, a problematic red thread ran through early soccer research: androcentrism and blindness to gender. Moreover, a systematic incorporation of gender-relevant topics in soccer, which are *tackled by practicians and scholars together* is still missing until today.

This conference which takes place in Vienna April 15-16, 2008, wants to offer precisely this platform to initiate an intensive interchange between the actors of the field of soccer (clubs, police, social workers, active players) and scholars. The topics to be included are open as well as manifold. However, strong focus should be placed on the special gender of soccer (cf. Kreisky 2006). We welcome papers addressing the following topics:

1. *Interaction on the field *