A narrative analysis of four main discourses of national identity in Spain, with a special focus on Catalonia, as disseminated in the Spanish press in the period between 1993 and 1996. The study includes assessments of the Spanish press coverage of the 1994 USA Football World Cup, and the process of negotiation towards a pact between Partido Popular and Convergencia I Unio in central government. The work is not confined to description of elements intended to shape identities, but deals heavily with the symbolic struggle between different ideological agents for the constructions of Spanish and Catalan identities, in keeping with their own socio-political and economic interests. The topics include: "Four Discourses of Spain and Catalonia"; "The Game of the Nation - Football and Identity"; and "Catalonia -Victim and Redeemer of Spain".