Big news from the Garden City! It will be interesting to see how both partners—Al Ain Football Club and Red Bull—benefit from their partnership over the coming years. gulfnews.com/sport/red-bu...

Red Bull and Al Ain Club announce new partnership

Red Bull and Al Ain Club join forces to elevate UAE football, focusing on talent development and global ambitions in a groundbreaking partnership.

gulfnews.com

Save the date! The Political Studies Association’s (PSA) Sport and Politics Specialist Group Annual Conference 2027 will take place on June 3–4, 2027, at the University of Reading.

The Routledge Handbook of Sport and Soft Power has now been published! A huge thank you to the 49 contributing authors for helping us produce a comprehensive and original contribution to the academic literature on sport and soft power!

I am pleased to be recognized once again among the world’s top 2% of scientists in the 2026 Stanford–Elsevier ranking. This marks my sixth consecutive appearance on the career-long citation impact list, and my second consecutive appearance on the single-year citation impact list.

Friends and colleagues in Dubai and Sharjah, I will be giving two talks on "Sports Diplomacy" and "Football Governance in the Gulf" on Sunday and Tuesday, October 4 and 6, 2026. Come and join us if you are around!

Delighted to have been awarded a start-up grant by United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) for the project “Football Governance in the Middle East,” with Professor Henk Erik Meier from the University of Münster and me serving as Co-Principal Investigators.

Pretty interesting Asian Champions League draw! Al Ain Football Club will welcome two teams from Saudi Arabia in the group stage (West), including Al Nassr with Cristiano Ronaldo and Al Qadsiah, as well as two Iranian teams, Tractor FC and Esteghlal FC.

AFC Champions League Elite 2024/25 Fixtures and Standings

Find out the upcoming fixtures and standings of the AFC Champions League Elite 2024/25, the continental club football tournament for Asian teams.

the-afc.com

Right after the conclusion of the 2026 World Cup, Al Jazeera released its documentary A Game of Double Standards on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Delighted to be featured alongside other experts. (I was interviewed during my time @guqatar.bsky.social.) www.aljazeera.com/video/featur....

A Game of Double Standards

Qatar 2022: a World Cup that exposed football’s politics, power struggles, and double standards.

aljazeera.com

In light of recent geopolitical developments, will Qatar remain the host of the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup? I discussed these questions with Lara Zugck from the German public broadcasting radio station Deutschlandfunk. (Report in German) www.deutschlandfunk.de/basketball-b...

Basketball - Bleibt Katar Gastgeber der WM 2027?

deutschlandfunk.de

*NEW PSA BLOG* ⚽️'FIFA World Cup 2026: Why Expansion was the Right Decision by Danyel Reiche @politicsofsports.bsky.social & Tamir Bar-On from PSA Sports & Politics Specialist Group @psasport.bsky.social ➡️ Learn more buff.ly/tonfr3L #WorldCup #Sport #Politics

FIFA World Cup 2026: Why Expansion Was the Right Decision - Political Studies Association

Authors Danyel Reiche, Tamir Bar-On The 2026 FIFA World Cup shows that expanding the tournament to 48 teams has made it more inclusive without reducing its competitiveness. The strong performances of…

buff.ly

Read our article “FIFA World Cup 2026: Why Expansion Was the Right Decision,” published on the @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social blog. The strong performances of several underdog nations demonstrate football’s transformation into a truly global and less Eurocentric game. www.psa.ac.uk/fifa-world-c...

FIFA World Cup 2026: Why Expansion Was the Right Decision - Political Studies Association

Authors Danyel Reiche, Tamir Bar-On The 2026 FIFA World Cup shows that expanding the tournament to 48 teams has made it more inclusive without reducing its competitiveness. The strong performances of ...

psa.ac.uk

Germany face Paraguay tonight. Why is German football different? @politicsofsports.bsky.social explains the 50+1 ownership model, fan power, and what the national team says about modern Germany. www.buzzsprout.com/2253650/epis...

The greatest sporting event on earth has started! How much do the nine Asian teams at the 2026 FIFA World Cup rely on naturalized players? The range goes from mainly local players (Saudi Arabia) to predominantly naturalized squads (Qatar). migrantimes.com/mt-analysis/...

MT Analysis: How Migration History Shapes AFC’s 2026 World Cup Lineups | Migrant Times

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, football’s biggest stage, maps how migration history, citizenship law, and eligibility rules shape national-team lineups, including across the AFC’s nine participating countri...

migrantimes.com

Fascinating episode on the politics of the World Cup with @politicsofsports.bsky.social and Tamir Bar-On. Check it out!

The FootPol Podcast@footpolpodcast.bsky.social · 5mo ago

World Cup starts this week! @guyburton.net is away so @drfrancescobelc.bsky.social hosts @politicsofsports.bsky.social & Tamir Bar-On, co-editors of Soccer & Society issue of World Cup 2026 politics. FIFA, Iran, nationalism, ticket prices, global football shifts. www.buzzsprout.com/2253650/epis...

The FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off on Thursday! In the latest episode of the FootPol Podcast, Tamir Bar-On and I joined @drfrancescobelc.bsky.social to discuss what makes this World Cup unique, ...

World Cup starts this week! @guyburton.net is away so @drfrancescobelc.bsky.social hosts @politicsofsports.bsky.social & Tamir Bar-On, co-editors of Soccer & Society issue of World Cup 2026 politics. FIFA, Iran, nationalism, ticket prices, global football shifts. www.buzzsprout.com/2253650/epis...

Iran has announced its 2026 World Cup squad. Five of the 26 players are employed by clubs in the United Arab Emirates: Saeid Ezatolahi — Shabab Al Ahli Mehdi Ghaedi — Al Nasr SC Saman Ghoddos — Ittihad Kalba Mohammad Ghorbani — Al Wahda FC Shahriar Moghanlou — Ittihad Kalba

Iran name World Cup squad: No recall for Sardar Azmoun, Taremi and Jahanbakhsh to lead line

Azmoun, who has scored 57 goals ‌in 91 appearances for his country, was omitted from the preliminary squad.

nytimes.com

I checked the U.S. 2026 squad and found that 8 out of 26 players played college soccer, although most of them—apart from Matt Turner and Tim Ream—did so for only one or two years.

Congratulations to Al Ain Football Club, the pride of the city, on winning the UAE Championship last night in the 2025–2026 season. Looking forward to the AFC Champions League matches next season in Al Ain. Ronaldo, we are waiting for you :-)

In a very special location—the Chairman’s Lounge of Al Ain Club’s Stadium—we met today for an academic symposium titled “Cultural, Economic, and Political Dimensions of the FIFA World Cup 2026.” The panelists discussed a range of issues, and my presentation focused on U.S. college soccer.

Come & join our scientific symposium on the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026, titled “FIFA World Cup 2026: Cultural, Economic, and Political Dimensions.” The event will take place on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 from 10:00 AM to 12:15 PM in the main hall of Al Ain Club’s beautiful Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium.

Congratulations to the last six countries that qualified last night for the FIFA World Cup 2026, including Iraq and Turkey, highlighting the strong representation of countries from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) across three different federations (Africa, Asia, and Europe).

I spoke to the international news agency AFP about the Iran war and how it is affecting the Gulf countries’ role as a global sports hub. www.france24.com/en/live-news...

Gulf's decades-long strategy of sporting investment rocked by Mideast war

Around 80,000 fans were hoping to see Lionel Messi take on Lamine Yamal in Doha, while thousands more were gearing up for the F1 grands prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but the war in the Middle East...

france24.com

Delighted to share my open-access article, “College soccer, the U.S. national men’s and women’s teams, and the FIFA World Cup,” published in the Q1 Journal Soccer & Society by Taylor & Francis as part of the special issue “FIFA’s North American World Cup in 2026.” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

College soccer, the U.S. national men’s and women’s teams, and the FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup 2026 sheds light on the unique American combination of sport and education, which deviates from the globally common club model. The article argues that the United States is movin...

tandfonline.com

I talked to the website of the German television sports magazine Sportschau about the impact of the US/Israeli war on Iran. www.sportschau.de/investigativ...

Kriegsfolgen für den Sport: Die Glitzerfassade in den Golfstaaten bröckelt

Der Iran-Krieg hat massive Auswirkungen auf die Nachbarn im Nahen Osten, vor allem auf Katar und Saudi-Arabien. Ist nun die milliardenschwere Sportindustrie der Golfstaaten in Gefahr?

sportschau.de

I am delighted about the publication of the special issue “FIFA’s North American World Cup in 2026”, which Tamir Bar-On & I guest edited for Soccer & Society, a Q1 journal published by Taylor & Francis. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

FIFA’s North American World Cup in 2026 – an introduction

Published in Soccer & Society (Ahead of Print, 2026)

tandfonline.com

I am looking forward to discussing sport in the Gulf countries next Tuesday in the German capital at the Catholic Academy. How does the war affect the Gulf countries in general, particularly in the realm of sport? www.katholische-akademie-berlin.de/veranstaltun...

Sport am Golf - Katholische Akademie in Berlin e.V.

Ronaldo spielt in Saudi-Arabien, die viel beachtete und kritisierte Fußball-WM fand im Dezember 2022 in einem kleinen Emirat in der Wüste statt, und in Dubai kann man mittlerweile bei 48 Grad Außentem...

katholische-akademie-berlin.de

I will be teaching a class on “The Politics of Soccer” at Harvard University Summer School during this summer’s 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Registration is now open for both Harvard & visiting students: courses.dce.harvard.edu?details&srcd...

This week, the United Arab Emirates staged the UAE Tour 2026, an annual professional cycling race for men & women. The UAE not only demonstrated once again that it is a highly professional organizer of major sporting events, but also highlighted how such an event can be used to promote tourism.

Congratulations to Waad Al-Maadeed on winning the Qatar Education Excellence Award, presented by the Emir on Sunday. It was my pleasure to mentor Waad’s Honors Thesis, “Sport as a Foreign Policy Tool: The FIFA World Cup 2022 and Qatar–Saudi Bilateral Relations” @guqatar.bsky.social.