The Role of Sport Governance in New Geometry of West Asia

Post Islamic Awakening and the power vacuum after ۲۰۱۲ is the main reason for Arab states to invest on sport as a soft power to dominant the region. While Qatar hosted ۲۰۲۲ FIFA World Cup, Saudi is going to host ۲۰۲۹ Asian winter Games and ۲۰۳۴ FIFA World Cup for the first time. The main reason of this study was to investigate the role of sport in new Middle East governance. In recent years, a wealth of literature has increased our understanding of Middle East sports. While the Saudi government experienced the new era of sports under Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) leader, it was accused to sport washing. Qatar and UAE are the two micro nations of region that supported the sport events in recent years. The present study used qualitative content analysis to infer the achievements of Gulf States (UAE, Saudi and Qatar) in football. The content analysis scrutinized articles and reports published between ۲۰۰۰ and ۲۰۲۴ from the following scientific databases: Google Scholar, Science Direct, DOAJ and Web of Sciences. While the sport has a critical role on empowering the international prestige of Gulf States, football is the main player of this field. In contrast to Saudi which tried to dominate the region by using soft power tools (especially football), Qatar has adopted a different approach and has decided to project itself as a peacemaker and friendly country in the Middle East.

کلیدواژه ها:

Middle East ، sport ، Governance ، public diplomacy ، Arab states