2026 Digital Summit
The World’s Game: Football and WWI
Tuesday, June 9, 2026 | 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Central
Kick off North America’s FIFA World Cup 2026™ celebrations with this virtual symposium tracing football’s rise as a global phenomenon. Starting from the early 20th century, discover the fascinating and often untold history of the world’s favorite sport. Whether you play or spectate – and even if you call it “soccer” – there will be topics for every area of interest.
Who should attend?
All who have a general or professional interest in football, sports and the periods prior to, during and after World War I. We especially recommend this symposium to sports enthusiasts, educators, historians and members of organizations that study these periods.
Hosted in conjunction with the exhibition
The Beautiful Game
Journey through the story of football's impact on WWI and explore the poignant influence of “the beautiful game” on people living during wartime.
Speakers
Dr. Alex Alexandrou, Co-Founder and Chair, Football and War Network
Steve Bolton, Independent Historian
James Brown, Vice President, Society for American Soccer History (SASH)
Dr. Brian Bunk, Senior Lecturer, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Alex Churchill, Co-Founder, The Great War Group
Clive Harris, Co-Owner and Guide, Battle Honours
Dr. Alex Jackson, Curator, National Football Museum
Dr. Chris Juergens, Senior Curator, National WWI Museum and Memorial
Dr. Lucas Maubert, Historian, University of Tarapacá
Dr. Kevin Tallec Marston, Senior Research Fellow and Academic Project Manager, Centre International d’Etude du Sport (CIES)
Dr. Tom McCabe, Founder and Chief Storyteller, Soccertown Media
Dr. Laura Patrick, Project Director, UNTOLD: The Museum Ltd
Kurt Rausch, Independent Historian
Dr. Marko Vukičević, Research Associate, Croatian Institute of History
Dr. Christopher Warren, Chief Curator and Vice President of Collections, National WWI Museum and Memorial
Hosted in Partnership with:
Past Symposia
Beyond the Trenches: Indirect Approaches and Irregular Warfare in WWI
Oct. 23-25, 2025
As large armies fought for mere meters of dirt and mud along the Western Front, strategists increasingly turned to finding other ways to gain advantages over enemies. Aviation technology, tunneling and mining, proxy fighters, insurgents and spies – these all achieved flexibility and surprised the enemy. Explore the wide variety of battle strategies beyond trenches.
War and Morality Digital Summit
Nov. 15-16, 2024
As the defining event of the 20th century, how does World War I inform our understanding of “just” war?
Despite the efforts of multinational coalitions like the Triple Entente and League of Nations, crises have persisted throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, revealing the strategic and ethical complexities that define modern conflict and its impact on our global society.
Milestones and Cornerstones
Oct. 27-28, 2023
1923 ushered in a new era of military commemoration in the wake of WWI. Remembrance became less about victory and more about peace: monuments and cemeteries, enshrining the memory of those who served and sacrificed, were built not as trophies of the past but as touchstones for the future.
Shifting Tides: Citizenship in a World of Conflict
Nov. 4-5, 2022
Engulfed by four years of total war, the world emerged transformed. Amid the unfamiliarity of wartime and post-war societies, populations were both bound by tradition and buoyed by bids to reshape political, economic and social landscapes.
Fractured Fronts
Oct. 29-30, 2021
As the Great War “ended,” many questions confronted the global community that remain just as pressing today as they did one hundred years ago: How does war impact how we understand ourselves and our place in the world? What does it mean to “come home” when the places and people you called home have changed irrevocably?
1919: Peace?
Nov. 1-2, 2019
1919 was a year of sweeping changes in a landscape dramatically altered by years of unrelenting warfare. Leaders advanced towards elusive peace amid political instability, economic uncertainty and social conflict. As terms of the Treaty of Versailles were negotiated, a world reordered faced decisions and realities that would leave a complex legacy.
1918: Crucible of War
Nov. 1-3, 2018
Explore the irrevocable changes five years of cataclysmic conflict wrought on the global stage. As borders were literally and figuratively redrawn, Allies celebrated a victory and the world came to terms with the irreparable devastation and losses of the “war to end all wars.”
1917: America Joins the Fight
Nov. 3-4, 2017
The United States emerged from its traditional isolation in 1917 and began to take its place in the forefront of world affairs. As the U.S. mobilized its farms, industries, and formed a large army, it confronted curtailing civil liberties and faced a possible demand for equity in return for support.
Remembering Muted Voices
Oct. 19-22, 2017
Although the U.S. actively took part in the conflict for only 18 months, the war effort introduced mass conscription, transformed the American economy and mobilized popular support through war bonds, patriotic rallies and anti-German propaganda. Nevertheless, many people desired a negotiated peace, opposed American intervention, refused to support the war effort and even imagined future world orders that could eliminate war.
1916: Total War
Nov. 4-5, 2016
Explore the pivotal year of 1916, where global socio-political tensions created by World War I continued escalation and irrevocably changed the economic, military, and cultural landscape of the world.
1915: Empires at War
Nov. 6-7, 2015
Explore the rising tensions in America and the globally escalating conflict that defined the world in 1915. Follow the trajectories of different countries around the world as the conflict escalated to total war, including fighting in the colonies and East Asia, stalemate in the West, Churchill’s disaster at Gallipoli, mobilization at home, and the polarization of American society around the issue of war.
1914: Global War and American Neutrality
Nov. 7-8, 2014
Examine the origins of, reactions to and early confrontations in the First World War including the political, diplomatic, military, cultural and scientific developments prior to the war that contributed to its outbreak.