Spelet i spalterna : En kvalitativ analys av Aftonbladets rapportering om damfotboll

This study examines how Aftonbladet has portrayed women’s football during two major international tournaments: the UEFA Women’s Euros 2013 and 2025. The research addresses the overarching question of how female football players are framed in the newspaper’s reporting and which news frames dominate the coverage across the two events. The study’s purpose is to identify potential changes in language use, tone, themes, and metaphors and to assess how these shifts relate to broader constructions of gender within sports journalism. The analysis draws on feminist media theory, particularly Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze and van Zoonen’s perspectives on gendered media representations, as well as Semetko and Valkenburg’s framing theory. The empirical material consists of articles published by Aftonbladet during both tournaments and is analyzed through a framing analysis. The results show a shift toward more professional and sport-centered portrayals in 2025 compared with 2013, where articles more frequently highlighted athletic performance and reduced reliance on frames related to motherhood. At the same time, the study reveals how sports journalism continues to reproduce gendered structures by positioning female athletes as individuals whose sporting significance is complemented or even overshadowed by their private roles. The study concludes that while the reporting demonstrates progress toward more equitable representation, gendered norms remain influential. These findings contribute to the understanding of how sports journalism both reflects and shapes societal norms regarding gender, emphasizing the continued need for critical scrutiny of media portrayals.