A geopolitical economy of football: the case of Qatar

ABSTRACT

Several giga changes – specifically globalisation, digitalisation and changing energy markets – have had significant impacts on sport. This has resulted in several countries deploying football for reasons of policy and strategy that go far beyond the game itself. We contend that football must be conceived of as geopolitical economy in order to understand why several countries now invest heavily in the sport. Building on pieces of literature drawn from sport management, geography, politics, and economics, we critically discuss the geopolitical economy of sport in general, and of football in particular. Drawing on the case of Qatar, and using examples such as its staging of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the acquisition of French club Paris Saint Germain, this commentary identifies the motives for Qatar’s investments and then highlights some of the issues and challenges this poses for football.

KEYWORDS:

• Geopolitics
• sport
• soft power
• world cup
• giga changes
• geography

Acknowledgments

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.