Fernando Delgado

In the contemporary global landscape, nations strive to portray themselves as modern and open societies, employing various tools, such as art diplomacy, scientific diplomacy, and sports diplomacy, as a compelling facet of public engagement, especially over the past two decades. This study aims to scrutinize the role of sports in interactions of Iran and Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The research was descriptive based on qualitative technic that was done by two round Delphi interviews. The participants consisted of 14 experts of sport policy and international relations and the data collection involved an examination of diverse sources, including articles, books, and websites of Google Scholar, Taylor Francis, and Sciences Direct. The qualitative section indicated three concepts of sport diplomatic interactions of Iran and SCO countries included: Economic, Political and Cultural factors. The findings also highlight Russia and China as promising prospects for fostering sports diplomatic interactions with Iran. Sports events that secure medals, notably gymnastics and swimming, benefit significantly from enhanced bilateral and multilateral exchanges within the sports competitions framework among Shanghai Cooperation Agreement nations.

The Islamic Awakening and the power vacuum after 2012 have been key factors motivating Arab states to invest in sport as a soft power tool to assert regional dominance. While Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Saudi Arabia is set to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games and the 2034 FIFA World Cup for the first time. This study aims to explore the role of sport in governance within West Asia. In recent years, an expanding body of literature has deepened our understanding of sports in the Middle East. Under the leadership of Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS), Saudi Arabia has entered a new era of sports investment but has faced accusations of 'sportswashing.' Meanwhile, Qatar and the UAE, two smaller states in the region, have played pivotal roles in supporting high-profile sporting events. This study employs qualitative content analysis to assess the achievements of the Persian Gulf States-namely the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar-in soccer. The analysis draws from articles and reports published between 2000 and 2024, sourced from scientific databases such as Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, DOAJ, and Web of Science. While sport plays a crucial role in enhancing the international prestige of the Persian Gulf States, soccer has emerged as the primary focus. Unlike Saudi Arabia, which has sought to dominate the region through soft power initiatives, particularly in soccer, Qatar has pursued a distinct strategy, positioning itself as a peacemaker and friendly nation in the Middle East.

The outbreak of war in Ukraine at the same time as the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics once again called the world sports to engage in international military warfare. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of sports deterrent in the prevention of international military wars. The present study was a qualitative-netnogeraphy method, which was conducted by studying various websites and social networks such as Instagram and official websites of BBC sport, CNN sport, ABC sport, Varzesh TV, Olympics and FIFA World Cup pages. The results indicated that sport sanctions of Russia categorized to personal (8) and organizational (21) concepts. Although Sports is a non-political phenomenon, it can play as a peace-making factor to decrease the political and military pressure on nations. Today, athletes, because of their billion audience on social media and messengers, have an irreplaceable impact on the public, including efforts to curb violence, aggression and incitement to war, including effective sports in promoting international peace.