Does Sportswashing Work? First Insights from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

2024/04/03 by Christian Gläßel, Adam Scharpf, Pearce Edwards · 3 voices · 34 citations
Engineering · Social Sciences · #Engineering #Mechanical engineering #Political science #Sport and Mega-Event Impacts #Work (physics)

paper · open access · doi:10.1086/730728

published in The Journal of Politics 87(1), 388-392 (University of Chicago Press)

openalex publication_date 2024/04/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Can autocrats use major sports tournaments to shift public opinion abroad? This short article conducts the first social scientific test of whether authoritarian host regimes win the desired image boost through sports mega-events. We analyze original data from a two-wave public opinion survey in Germany fielded before and right after the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. We find that among German respondents, the tournament start (i) did not improve Qatar’s image, but (ii) increased sympathies for the Arab world, and (iii) fueled criticism of the media, the quality of democracy, and the inclusion of minorities within Germany. Our findings reveal that international sports events may benefit an autocrat’s entire region, while heightening polarization in foreign democracies. Together, our findings offer first insights into the various effects of sportswashing and autocratic image campaigns.

Citations

• International Sports Events and Repression in Autocracies: Evidence from the 1978 FIFA World Cup
• Team and Nation: Sports, Nationalism, and Attitudes Toward Refugees
• Can Exposure to Celebrities Reduce Prejudice? The Effect of Mohamed Salah on Islamophobic Behaviors and Attitudes

Cited by

• The limits of sportswashing. How the 2022 FIFA World Cup affected attitudes about Qatar
• Who Gets Targeted with Soft Power? Evidence from Henry Kissinger’s International Seminar
• Making a Career in Dictatorship
• Conclusion and Outlook
• Transnational Authoritarianism
• The limits of sportswashing. How the 2022 FIFA World Cup affected attitudes about Qatar. [europepmc]

Discussions

• Wer sich die Studie genauer anschauen möchte: Hier der Link zum Artikel (hinter der doofen paywall 😠): doi.org/10.1086/730728 Hier der Link zur freien Preprint-Version: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s4lbg [bsky, 18 points, 1 comments]
• In a follow-up article in @thejop.bsky.social, we study how sportswashing works and what publicity/image effects autocracies achieve from hosting sports events Case: 2022 ⚽ World Cup in Qatar doi.o [bsky, 5 points, 0 comments]
• Day 18/39 A two-wave German survey around the 2022 Qatar World Cup found the event didn't improve Qatar's image, but warmed views of the Arab world while fueling criticism of its rights record. Glas [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

Related

• The limits of sportswashing. How the 2022 FIFA World Cup affected attitudes about Qatar
• Toward a Theory of Sportswashing: Mega-Events, Soft Power, and Political Conflict
• International Sports Events and Repression in Autocracies: Evidence from the 1978 FIFA World Cup
• Sports Mega-Events as Foreign Policy: Sport Diplomacy, “Soft Power,” and “Sportswashing”
• Promoting Terror or Sport? The Case of Qatar’s International Image