The Olympics, FIFA, and the Three S’s

In early February of 2026, the President of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, declared that the ban imposed on the Russian Football Federation “has not achieved anything” and "has just created more frustration and hatred," leading to a comment suggesting that no country should ever be banned from playing football. Following this, only a day after, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Kirsty Coventry, made a similar comment to keep sport a “neutral ground... A place where every athlete can compete freely, without being held back by the politics or divisions of their governments”. This triggered many conversations, but the main one this article will cover is: What is FIFA and the IOC’s general role in politics? Given that both are the main governing bodies of the world's largest sports it is reasonable to assume that the position they take is influential. Hence, this article will examine three key terms and analyze these international organizations role in international relations via their hosting of the World Cup and Olympics respectively.

The three terms entail: Soft power, sports washing, and sports diplomacy. The former may be defined by a country’s use of non-traditional resources such as “cultural attraction, ideology and international institution” to “get others to want what you want” (Nye 1990). Then, the ladder may be defined as “the deployment of sport by a state entity for the purposes of laundering a country’s image and reputation” (Burton & Naraine 2023). Finally, using the definition by the President of FIFA, sports diplomacy may be defined as “the use of sport to realize policy goals, to help bring about positive social change” (Infantino 2021).  In terms of FIFA and the IOC, they have used sport to increase their global outreach via funding for educational and social programs, empowering people through their ‘Olympism 365’ and ‘Football Unites the World’ campaigns. In turn, this has expanded their respective soft power, subsequently triggering governments to reassess their investment into sport, leading to more sport’s diplomatic efforts but also more accusations of sports washing by FIFA, the IOC and state governments/ officials. 

The clearest example of this comes with FIFA and a glance at who the recent hosts of the World Cup have been / will be from 2018 to 2034. This includes Russia, Qatar, the United States of America, Spain and Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. From this list, Russia is currently facing international scrutiny for its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine; Qatar has been accused of various human rights violations, including slavery and killings of journalists, in preparation for its hosting of the tournament (Human Rights Watch 2022); the US is on the brink of a democratic collapse with the enabling of an executive military force and killing of civilians; Spain and Morocco, while not perfect, are not the former; while Saudi Arabia is under a dictatorial crown rule that kills opposition and has been accused of similar practices that Qatar was accused of in build up to 2022 (Human Rights Watch 2024). The promise behind hosting the tournament in these countries is that FIFA, via its ‘rules for hosting the World Cup’, comparable to that of the IOC’s ‘Criteria of assessment to be an Olympic host’, has standards which states must abide by to be eligible to host, theoretically promoting FIFA's stated humanitarian values. However, as evidenced with Russia, Qatar and now the US, these standards seem to be a farce and clear evidence of sports washing. Conversely, it seems that the IOC has not gone the way of FIFA, but this is also the same organization that held two Olympic games (1936 Winter and Summer ones) under Nazi Germany rule. This is furthered by recalling the IOC President’s stance on Russian participation and so to see the IOC shift its positions to more conservative leanings would not be a surprise. 

Ultimately, this begs the final question of why? Why subtly, but at the same time, why explicitly, shift social positions? The answer, at least one of them, comes from following the money. For the state hosting, FIFA, and the IOC, enormous profits are derived from tourism, advertising space, ticket sales, etc... Any negative press that comes will eventually be swept under the rug, and, as evidenced by the organization’s steadfast position in making sports politically neutral and socially positive, it can be turned against those who question the true nature of their ‘sports diplomacy’. It is an easy position to take that masks accountability as inclusivity and ensures continued profit. 

In conclusion, FIFA and the IOC are no strangers to the world of politics. Having become residents within the realm, their indominable soft power makes it so that whoever they choose to bolster, even if only briefly, enjoys an elevated global standing, which often precipitates an increase to state revenue. While the power possessed by these international organizations remains apparent, they cannot and should not stifle social change and accountability . Through transparency, literacy, and critical inquiry, their corruption can be seen, understood, and challanged.

About the Author

References

BBC. (2026, February 3). FIFA president Gianni Infantino called “infantile” for wanting to lift Russia ban. BBC Sport. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c2053zn21e1o

Burton, N., & Naraine, M. L. (2023). Sport and Saudi Arabia. In “Sport and Saudi Arabia: Mimetic Isomorphsim, Soft Power, and Disempowerment”. The Geopolitical Economy of Sport: Power, politics, Money and the State, Routledge (pp. 141–147).https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003348238-20 

InsideFifa (2022, June 4). FIFA President advocates sports diplomacy as an effective tool for social change. FIFA. https://inside.fifa.com/organisation/president/news/fifa-president-advocates-sports-diplomacy-as-an-effective-tool-for-social-change 

Ingle, S., & Ames, N. (2026, February 3). IOC president gives clearest signal so far that Russia could be at 2028 Olympics. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/03/ioc-president-kirsty-coventry-russia-2028-olympics-ukraine-sports-minister-fifa-gianni-infantino 

Nye, J. S. (1990). Soft Power. Foreign Policy, (80), 153–171. https://doi.org/10.2307/1148580 

Human Rights Watch. (2022, November 14). Qatar: Rights abuses stain FIFA World Cup. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/11/14/qatar-rights-abuses-stain-fifa-world-cup 

Worden, M. (2025, November 6). Russia’s bloody World Cup. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/13/russias-bloody-world-cup 

Worden, M. (2024, December 19). Red card for FIFA’s Saudi World Cup. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/12/19/red-card-fifas-saudi-world-cup