Now published & being dispatched... The Geopolitical Economy of Esports www.routledge.com/The-Geopolit... BIG BIG BIG thanks to everyone who contributed - chapter authors, publisher, proofreaders

Good 4 Business: El Clásico and the emergence of a global sport entertainment system How social cause and political symbolism lost out to music, lifestyle and culture substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Comments for TIME magazine Why Saudi Arabia Is Betting Big on Esports time.com/article/2026...

For Elsevier... Football shirts and the World Cup – National colours, complex apparel www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Hiding in plain sight - how athletes are building a new form of social media presence On finstas, fame, and the feeds nobody paid for substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Between club and country - what's happened in the ten years since Nigeria's rebranding of its professional football league substack.com/home/post/p-... Written by Nnamdi O. Madichie, Professor of Marketing, Nova Business School Africa @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Soon, very soon... The Business of the FIFA World Cup (2nd edition) @paulwiddop.bsky.social

My piece for @forbes.com How The World Cup Is Complicating U.S. Soft Power Staging FIFA's showcase tournament was meant to enhance U.S. soft power, but instead seems to be eroding it as the country's image and reputation come under fire www.forbes.com/sites/simonc...

FIFA's World Cup dynamic ticket pricing - neoliberalism personified? This summer's tournament ticketing strategy marks the end of an era, and the growing dominance of another substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Comments in... Why are FIFA World Cup 2026 tickets so expensive? Fans are critical of FIFA’s pricinng of tickets, accusing the world body of pricing them out of the global tournament. www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/...

We are please to announce the 7th Annual Eurasian Sport Industry Conference This year's theme is the sport industry in a turbulent world Submissions invited in: - Technology - Environment - Geopolitical economy - Governance Koln, Germany 4th November 2026 Details en.em-lyon.com.cn/news/view/505

F1 must keep a watchful eye on events in the Gulf as the road ahead looks bumpy War in the region continues to raise questions about what happens next in sport substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

My first article as @forbes.com contributor More to come, especially on the geopolitical economy of this summer's tournament Why The 2026 World Cup Will Be About Much More Than A Commercial Bonanza www.forbes.com/sites/simonc...

Establishing the Meaning of Sports Teams in an Era of Neoliberalism and Digitalisation sciencedirect.com/science/arti... To mark Elsevier's publishing of three new sport journals - Football Studies, Baseball Studies, Team Sport Studies - a new editorial commentary section has been launched

Saudi Arabia doubles down on its sport ecosystem development as asset disposals commence Al Hilal has been sold, LIV Golf could be next, will Newcastle United follow? substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Very happy to see the book 'Diversify or Die - Why the Future of Sport is Entertainment' being published Thanks to the editorial team for inviting Jailan El Boys & me to contribute a chapter Disneyfication: Football’s Mickey Mouse Future? link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Geopolitical Economy of Esports Book publication, 6th May Examines convergence of power, money, politics and business in this fast growing sector Sections: -General introduction -China -Saudi Arabia -Asia -Europe & rest of world www.routledge.com/The-Geopolit...

Comments in... PIF may declare force majeure on LIV Golf, sources say agbi.com/business-of-...

The UEFA Champions League’s visibility trap: why clubs from small markets waste their biggest moments substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport BIG thanks to Veronica Rozenfeld for this latest piece

Establishing the Meaning of Sports Teams in an Era of Neoliberalism and Digitalisation www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... To mark Elsevier's publishing of 3 new sport journals - Football Studies, Baseball Studies, Team Sport Studies - a new editorial commentary section has been launched

How this summer's World Cup team shirts accentuate national identity and meaning A raft of new shirt releases carry multiple messages substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Comments in... Der Iran-Krieg legt den Sport in den Golfstaaten still – aber stoppen kann er das Milliardengeschäft nicht www.nzz.ch/sport/der-ir...

Comments in... Two wars, two similar timelines, two rules: How money and power shape sport’s response indianexpress.com/article/expl...

Sport versus the future - is there a crystal ball? “As the tempo of change accelerates, the ability to think clearly about what lies ahead has never been more important – yet we remain remarkably bad at it” substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Sport versus the future - is there a crystal ball? From war in the Gulf to the impact of digital technology, sport has been prone to knee-jerk reactions and opportunism rather than strategic foresight substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

New from #Geosport From billionaires to bureaucrats: welcome to the Chinese Super League's new reality Written by Tobias Ross and Jonathan Sullivan substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social

Will Morocco's belated AFCON success prove to be a soft power miscalculation? substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

BYD's potential entry into F1 will dictated by Chinese government not media speculation Rumours are circulating that the EV manufacturer will form a new team, though we're probably still some distance away from this substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Comments in... Bahrain GP expected to be cancelled due to Iran war www.agbi.com/business-of-...

The Polish Institute for Sports Diplomacy has just published its latest sport and soft power country ranking Further details here pids.pl/raport/sport... Thanks to the PIDS team for inviting me to be part of the project

Will sport in the Arabian Gulf ever be the same again? Having become embroiled in the US conflict with Iran the likes of Qatar and Saudi Arabia are facing an uncertain future substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Lionel Messi watches on as Donald Trump talks about the "greatest military anyone has seen" Wallpaper legitimacy, sport washing, and the innocence of bystanders substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Aston Villa, Ireland, and the market for memory The Premier League club has just released new merchandise to mark St. Patrick's Day substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Has Casablanca just moved a step closer to hosting the 2030 FIFA men’s World Cup Final? As global geopolitics become even more turbulent, the Moroccan city could be one of the beneficiaries substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Five scenarios for the FIFA World Cup Recent armed conflict in the Gulf alongside drug tzar takedowns in Mexico have left people wondering what this summer's tournament will actually be like substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

As conflict escalates in the Arabian Gulf, it is inevitable that sport will feel the effects Competitions postponed, investment flows uncertain and supply chain chokepoints, with more to come substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

'Chinamaxxing' might be good for soft power, yet the country's sport industry has bigger ambitions Officials in Beijing prefer domestic consumers to buy Chinese sportswear brands rather than those from overseas substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

#Geosport wrote about African tourism sponsorships in European football, specifically DR Congo's response to Rwanda's deals profchadwick.substack.com/p/make-sport... French authorities have reportedly now begun investigations into Monaco's DRC sponsorship deal thegreatlakeseye.com/post?s=DRC%E...

How sport sponsorship extends industrial networks and national spheres of influence Audi's entrance into F1 reveals as much about Qatar as it does about Germany substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

As debate about Eileen Gu continues, it is worth recalling this excellent chapter www.routledge.com/The-Geopolit...

Women's football in Iran and Saudi Arabia - pathways towards peace and development substack.com/home/post/p-... @sufiya.bsky.social @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Late stage capitalism and the future of sport Why hotdogs and cola have become more important than history and tradition substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Snoop, Soft Power and the Olympics: America’s problems obscured, not cured substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

If black lives matter, then why did the IOC instruct Haiti to redesign its apparel? Officially, it’s to maintain political neutrality, even though the event remains laden with other signs, symbols and images that reflect ideology substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

ISL 2026: More Than a Schedule, a Statement of Intent for Indian Football substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

US soft power faces challenges, but the Super Bowl showed that it remains compelling America was represented as a connected cultural space characterised by togetherness substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Dubai playing catch-up in sport as the emirate goes head-to-head with its Gulf rivals The emirate's got big sporting ambitions, which a new strategy is intended to drive substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

AFCON, WAFCON and the politics of hosting football in Africa Nnamdi Madichie, Woxsen University, India substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Boycotting a sport mega event isn't child's play, but could LEGO lead the way? Ahead of the FIFA World Cup, pressure is growing for commercial partners to address consumer concerns substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport

Superbowl 60: Bad Bunny finds himself in Donald Trump's bad books Rapper's scheduled appearance at the NFL's showcase event isn't to the president's liking, raising questions about what happens to entertainment at the FIFA World Cup substack.com/home/post/p-... @paulwiddop.bsky.social #Geosport