It’s still a lazy shorthand in some circles to refer to football as ‘the beautiful game’, but let’s face it, no-one quite buys that hype any more. Corruption allegations at FIFA, transfer fees which could pay off national deficits bandied about on mid-table squad players, moneyed young men behaving like over-privileged fools … where’s the beauty in that? Well, it’s there if you look. Perhaps only rarely in the clubs and managers and players with which the media is saturated, but it’s in individual and collective stories which football still finds its beauty, rather than in empty advertising hype.

In the run-up to the Euro 2016 tournament this summer in France, the Goal! Tor! But! festival will seek to tell some of these stories at venues across Glasgow. Organised by the Goethe-Institut Glasgow, the Alliance Française Glasgow and the Scottish Football Museum with the support of Glasgow Life, it will tell these stories through films, art and an international symposium entitled Football and Social Inclusion: Best Practices from the UK, France and Germany (Hampden Park, Tue 27 & Wed 28 Apr).

‘Football is a money generating monster and at the same time a huge force for inclusion and integration in our societies,’ says Nikolai Petersen, director of the Goethe-Institut Glasgow. ‘The conference will allow ordinary fans and activists united by an insatiable enthusiasm for football and a strong feeling of social responsibility to meet. This combination helped them pull off projects which made their communities a little bit better and more harmonious, and their example might incite others to get committed to the bright side of football.’

Short films, documentaries and exhibitions will also be installed in libraries and arts centres across the city, while a programme of feature films in some of the same venues includes Bill Forsyth’s Gregory’s Girl, the Mogwai-soundtracked Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait and Little Lion, Samuel Collardey’s film about a Senegalese boy attempting to make it in Paris as a footballer.

The Goal! Tor! But! Festival, various venues, Glasgow, until Sat Apr 30.