Soccer Diplomacy: International Relations and Football since 1914

The book explores the nexus of the world’s most popular sport and diplomacy, as a tool of the nation-state based diplomacy, as diplomacy of soccer as a non-state actor, and via the relationship between soccer and a variety of diplomatic actors in the subnational, national, and transnational context. Over the past century any number of states have sought to conduct diplomacy via soccer games, tournaments, and the sport’s governance structures including the international governing body FIFA itself. FIFA’s tournaments, including its World Cup for men, youth players, or women, as well as regional tournaments provide numerous opportunities for diplomacy, from bidding for events to hosting them, and sending teams to tournaments to diplomatic reports about events, including how one’s country represented the state.