*Originally published in 2024 and preserved as part of our archive project.Get E-International Relations delivered to your inbox, free of charge. As you sign up, consider becoming a paid subscriber to support our work.

World sport events have become a recurring part of everyday experience for billions of people around the globe. Via TV, online streams, or more directly on site, enthusiasts and occasional observers can experience a diverse range of sports played at the highest professional level. And while not all of these events receive wide-spread media coverage, the largest and most prominent world sport events like the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics reach a considerable share of the world population. These high-profile events feature athletes who participate as representatives of their home nations. Thus, it is not just individual athletes or sport teams who compete against each other, but also the nations which they represent. World sport events thereby captivate the global public imagination in a very particular manner. They suggest that the world consists of rivaling nations who inevitably compete with each other – but on the basis of common rules.

Because world sport events have a global reach and because they convey a particular image of the world, they matter beyond the realm of sports. More specifically, we argue that they play a decisive role for the stabilization of international order (as a specific kind of world order) and the reproduction of international society (which is a society of states). Before we elaborate on this claim, let us illustrate how this perspective complements other analyses of sports and (international) society.

Sports have recently received increased attention within the IR community. For example, Franke and Koch have provided analysis of press statements by the IOC and FIFA on contemporary conflicts. Weiss and Daßler have used sports and sports metaphors to discuss policy positions. Chadwick has even called for a new research field focused on the geopolitcal economy of sport (see also this interview with him). This new found interest in the relationship between sports and politics adds to the literature on the following issues: mafia-style practices and corruption scandals in sports, the implications of hosting world sport events for........

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