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

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

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...

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....

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...

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....

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...

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.

Grateful to Danyel for taking the time to read and review Kingdom of Football, and for raising excellent suggestions for further research.

I tremendously enjoyed reading and reviewing @kristianulrichsen.bsky.social book "Kingdom of Football: Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer" for the Middle East Journal. www.academia.edu/164648054/Ki...

The UAE has risen to 75th place in the new 2025 World Ranking of Countries in Elite Sport (WRCES), which considers national team performances, marking its best position since the ranking was first published in 2014. sportsrankings.world/rankings

As a German living in the United Arab Emirates, I am delighted to see the cooperation between the professional football leagues of both countries, the Bundesliga and the UAE Pro League. www.uaeproleague.ae/en/news-and-...

The Winter Olympic Games are starting on Friday, and the participation of Russian and Israeli athletes has become a controversial topic. When should a mega sporting event be boycotted, or a country excluded from it? osi-zeitung.de/wp-content/u...

In the 2026 Brand Finance Global Soft Power Index, three Gulf countries rank particularly highly. Out of 193 countries, the United Arab Emirates is the highest-ranked GCC country, placing 10th, followed by Saudi Arabia in 17th place and Qatar in 20th.

We can’t wait for our annual conference, which this year will be hosted by the University of Liverpool Management School. Dates: Thursday, 4 June and Friday, 5 June 2026.

The UAE will participate in the Winter Olympics for the first time when the Games begin on February 6, 2026, in Italy. One of the two UAE athletes learned to ski at the indoor skiing facility Ski Dubai, while the other athlete has been naturalized. www.thenationalnews.com/sport/2026/0...

Not sure what Lebanon is aiming to achieve with 'symbolic' move to grant Infantino Lebanese citizenship. As a reminder, women cannot pass Lebanese citizenship to their children if the father is foreign. Neither can women pass citizenship to a non-Lebanese husband. Address these real issues first.

The United Arab Emirates is once again a driver of change in the Gulf: from now on, online sports betting is legal in the UAE—residents and citizens can, for example, bet on Champions League and Premier League matches without using VPNs or foreign sites. . www.thenationalnews.com/news/uae/202...

Congrats to FIFA President Infantino on receiving Lebanese citizenship. Having lived 12 years in Lebanon, I hope he helps improve Lebanese football so more homegrown players reach the national teams. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

We’re looking forward to receiving abstract submissions for our @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social Sport & Politics Group 2026 Conference on June 4–5, 2026, at the University of Liverpool. More information about conference theme, logistics & submission process here: www.psa.ac.uk/specialist-g...

Abstract submissions to the @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social Sport & Politics Group 2026 Conference on June 4–5, 2026, at the University of Liverpool are now open. You can find more information on the conference theme, logistics, and abstract submission process here: www.psa.ac.uk/specialist-g...

My introduction “Qatar’s World Cup Goals – Domestic Development and Global Influence,” which I wrote for the special issue of the Journal of Arabian Studies (for which I served as guest editor) on the FIFA World Cup 2022, is now available as open-access article. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Department of Government and Society at United Arab Emirates University invites applications for an open-rank faculty position in Political Science. jobs.uaeu.ac.ae/Postings/Pos...

Many Emirati football fans are very upset about how the AFC has organised the qualification tournaments for the World Cup 2026. Criticism ranges from the criteria for host selection & the allocation of tickets to away fans to the unequal rest days for teams. www.nytimes.com/athletic/675...

The FIFA Under-17 Men’s World Cup is coming up in Qatar. New Caledonia and Tajikistan, currently preparing in the UAE and showcasing the regional impact of the event, played a friendly match last night at Al Ain Rugby and Cricket Club, which ended in a 1–1 draw.

Für die @faznet.bsky.social habe ich das gerade erschienene Buch 'Kingdom of Football: Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer' (Hurst, 2025) von @kristianulrichsen.bsky.social rezensiert. www.faz.net/aktuell/spor...

That was fun! I really enjoyed participating in the United Arab Emirates University Faculty/Staff Table Tennis Championship and finishing in third place! Glad to work at a university that values and promotes sport so much!

Next week, the UAE has, for the first time since 1990, the chance to qualify for the FIFA Men’s World Cup. What I like about the team is its multicultural composition, and the fact that the diverse backgrounds of the players are not hidden by the country’s media.

The 2025 data update of the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientist Rankings is out! I’m honoured to be listed again — and especially proud to be at United Arab Emirates University, working alongside many colleagues who also appear in the rankings. More on the methodology & results here: l1nq.com/lkO7C

Save the date: Following our wonderful 2025 conference in London, the @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social Sport & Politics Group is delighted to announce that our 2026 annual meeting will take place on June 4–5, 2026, at the University of Liverpool Management School, and the Centre for Sports Business.

From our beautiful United Arab Emirates University campus in Al Ain, wishing everyone a great fall term. Looking forward to my first academic year in Abu Dhabi!

Delighted to share my appointment as Associate Professor in the Department of Government and Society at United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi’s second-largest city — commonly referred to as ‘The Garden City’. (This photo shows me during UAEU’s first-week photo shoot)

Ray, a talented athlete and very intelligent and sympathetic women, was one of the few Lebanese athletes who had the potential to make her country proud by winning an Olympic medal. But can't blame her as conditions in Qatar are much more professional. www.lbcgroup.tv/news/lebanon...

If you missed our event on "The Evolution of Basketball in the Middle East," on May 29, 2025, at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., the recording of the panel discussion is now online. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vsB...

Delighted to receive in the digital age a Thank You note from a wonderful former student by snail post, sent all the way from Pennsylvania, USA, to Doha, Qatar.

Both legs of this workshop on basketball in the Middle East have been so enriching, not just content-wise but also exchanging with international colleagues on hoops of all kinds! Thank you @politicsofsports.bsky.social and team for making the magic!

Wonderful convening in Washington D.C. at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University for our Georgetown University in Qatar working group on basketball and discussing the manuscript drafts for our upcoming special issue on America's Game in the Middle East.

🏀 😉 Ahead of this week's Georgetown University in Qatar CIRS basketball workshop on "America's Game in the Middle East," re-upping this interesting conversation between FIBA President Sheikh Saud Ali Al Thani and @politicsofsports.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ps...

There is an increasing American-Middle Eastern engagement in basketball, from NBA pre-season games in Abu Dhabi, Gulf sponsorships of American teams, and Middle Eastern players at U.S. college teams. Attend our Georgetown University in Qatar event "The Evolution of Basketball in the Middle East."

Delighted to announce the edited volume "Qatar's World Cup Goals. Domestic Development and Global Influence," published by Routledge (previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Arabian Studies).

Tremendously enjoyed participating in the annual conference of the ‪@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social‬‬ Sport and Politics Group, this year hosted by Birkbeck, University of London, and discussing over two days the conference topic “The Governance and Regulation of Sport.”