Football has the power to unify, inspire and promote peace between nations, but it also has the power to cause extraordinary discord in the world. within a country and around the world. Colombian national football is a good example. Colombia is divided into thirty-three departments and each department has at least one football team for a total of thirty-six teams in the Colombian league. The Colombian league is divided into two categories, the Liga Postobon with eighteen teams and the Torneo Postobon with eighteen teams as well. Within these two categories there are rivalries between teams that have reached such extraordinary heights that they affect the way Colombia's thirty-three departments view themselves, particularly Antioquia and Cundinamarca, more specifically Medellín and Bogota. The rivalry between these two cities is so powerful that when their football teams play against each other, fans are killed after the match. The violence within the Colombian league is indicative of the political unrest and tensions between departments that are creating greater violence throughout the country. However, it is strange that when the Colombian national team qualified for the 2014 World Cup, Colombia was not divided into departments: everyone was simply Colombian. This phenomenon can only be explained with Bill Shankly's statement about football: "Some people believe that football is a matter of life and death... I assure you it is much more important than that" ( Shankly). The relationship between the political rivalry between Medellín and Bogotá and their football rivalry is so similar it's almost frightening. There is a strong rivalry between ex-President Alvaro Uribe Velez, originally from Medellin, and President Juan Manuel Santos, originally from Bogota, due to their fundamental differences regarding the ong...... middle of paper.. ....d. However, Barcelona and Real Madrid players play peacefully when playing for Spain at the world level. This has become the norm for most of us who avidly watch football, but in reality it's not: how can people who normally hate each other love each other? Football unifies a country for a few days or months as is the case with the World Cup: why? I think football at the global level relieves political tensions: it is an opportunity for the country to show the best of them and forget the bad. For example, when Colombia qualified for this year's World Cup, all I thought about was that our country would finally be known as the favorite underdog instead of the poor, violent mess that it is always described. Football gives leaders the opportunity to demonstrate that their country is a group united under a single ideal, under a single rule, under a single national identity..