This book critically enhances the appreciation of sport and diplomacy in global affairs from the perspective of both practitioners and scholars. It draws on a range of scholarship across history, politics, sociology and international relations. It explores the linkages across these fields particularly in relation to soft power and public diplomacy and is supported by a wide range of sources and methodologies. 

Including a contribution from esteemed FIFA scholar Professor Alan Tomlinson which addresses diplomacy within the world’s global game of association football, the collection also includes studies on the rise of mega sport events as sites of diplomacy, new consideration of Chinese ping-pong diplomacy prior to the 1970s and the importance of boycotts in sport – particularly in relation to newly explored dimensions of the boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games. The place of non-state actors is explored throughout; whether individual or institutions they perform a crucial role as conduits of the transactions of sport and diplomacy.

Based on twentieth and twenty-first century evidence, the book acknowledges the antecedents from the ancient Olympics to the contemporary era and in its conclusions offers avenues for further study based on the future sport and diplomacy relationship. The book has strong international basis covering a broad range of countries, their diplomatic relationship with sport and is written by a truly transnational cast of authors. The intense media scrutiny on the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup and other international sports will also contribute to the global interest in this volume.