No: 357: Sports Investments and International Politics

Author(s): Fabio Schmocker
Editor(s): Névine Schepers
Series: CSS Analyses in Security Policy
Issue: 357
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich
Publication Year: 2025

Sport has reemerged as a tool for autocratic states to strengthen their legitimacy domestically and internationally. Qatar and Saudi Arabia, in particular, have invested heavily in sport and positioned state-linked figures in international sport organizations. Fabio Schmocker concludes in this CSS Analysis that while this strategy has increased the Gulf states’ global visibility, it has also drawn more attention to human rights issues.

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