Anti-Diplomacy of Football in the Middle East: The Geopolitical Challenge of Iran and Saudi Arabia

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Physical Education Department, Technical and Vocational University (TVU), Tehran, Iran.

3 Ph.D. Candidate of Sport Psychology, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Religious and political challenges with Saudi Arabia in the last decade, followed by the burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, invited the sport of the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially national an club’s football, to a new problem. The purpose of this study was to analyze the anti-diplomacy of Iranian football as a geopolitical challenge against Saudi Arabia. The present study was a qualitative (descriptive-analytical) type of library studies in terms of applied purpose and in terms of data collection; The statistical population was equal to 54 works of international sports relations and in particular sports diplomacy in the Middle East region and the statistical sample was equal to the contents about Iranian football anti-diplomacy, soft power of Iran and Saudi Arabia. The findings of the present study showed that the national teams of Saudi Arabia and Iran, as the main players in the Arab world and the Middle East, respectively, have played a significant role in the development of football in this region and many Asian football achievements, including being on the championship platform in the Asian Champions League. And attending the FIFA World Cup has been the result of the two countries' attention to football as their most popular sport; Finally, football in the confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East can be a tool for convergence and as one of the basic geopolitical codes of the two countries, which with its soft nature can open a diplomatic path in re-examining the relations between the two countries.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. Ali Aghakhani; Sirous Ahmadi; Alireza Rezaei. "Transforming Diplomatic Resources into the Results of Football Diplomacy with an Emphasis on the Mediating Role of Media Coverage". Communication Management in Sport Media, 9, 4, 2022, 72-81. doi: 10.30473/jsm.2021.57513.1503 (In Persian)
  2. Ahmadi, S., Aghakhani, A., & Rezaei, A. (2022). Transforming diplomatic resources into the results of football diplomacy with an emphasis on the mediating role of media coverage. Communication Management inInternational Relations in Iran from the point of view of experts. Contemporary Studies on Sport Manage Sport Media, 9(4), 63-88.
  3. Ahmadian, G., & Kahrizi, N. (2021). Iran and Saudi Arabia; Maturity of conflict and duality of negotiation -catastrophe. International Studies Journal (ISJ), 18(1), 25-44. (In Persian)
  4. Ahmadypour, Z., Joneydi, R., Buyeh, C., & Hosseini Damabi, S. (2013). Conceptualizing of Sport Geopolitics. Geopolitics Quarterly, 9(30), 1-48. (In Persian)
  5. Al Ruwaili, M. D. (2020). Females and sport in Saudi Arabia: An analysis of the relationship between sport, region, education, gender, and religion. Thesis of Stirling University, https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/handle/1893/31239
  6. Asadi, A. (2019). Saudi Arabia's role in Securitization of Iran; The Islamic Republic of Iran Strategy. Strategic Studies Quarterly, 22(85), 83-106. (In Persian)
  7. Beidolahkhani, A., & Kalmarzi, A. (2014). Strategic challenges between Iran and the Persian Gulf countries, the competitive market of Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Persian Gulf Political-Cultural Studies JournAL. 2 (1), 149-173. (In Persian)
  8. Dastigerdi, M., Dabir, A., & Shariati Feizabadi, M. (2020). The structural equation modelling of disorders concepts in Iranian stadiums. Karafan Quarterly Scientific Journal, 16(46), 189-206. (In Persian)
  9. Fattahi Ardakani, H., Imamjomehzadeh, J., & Harsij, H. (2018). Analysis of the soft power model in the Middle East: A case study of Saudi Arabia. Quarterly Journal of Political Research in Islamic World, 8(1), 29-62. (In Persian)
  10. Garlick, J., & Havlová, R. (2020). China’s “Belt and Road” economic diplomacy in the Persian Gulf: Strategic hedging amidst Saudi–Iranian Regional Rivalry. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 49(1), 82-105.
  11. Guschwan, M. (2007). Riot in the curve: Soccer fans in twenty‐first century Italy. Soccer & Society, 8(2-3), 250-266.
  12. Hadian, N., & Karimi, A. (2021). The soft power of sport in service of promoting of geopolitical goals of foreign policy (The case of China). Geopolitics Quarterly, 17(62), 182-202. (In Persian)
  13. Hayden, C. (2009). Applied public diplomacy: A marketing communications exchange program in Saudi Arabia. American Behavioral Scientist, 53(4), 533-548.
  14. Karimi Firozjaei, A. (2018). A study of sport newspapers titles from the critical discourse analysis view: a case study of Perspolis of Iran and Alhelal of Saudi Arabia matches. Applied Research in Sport Management, 6(3), 21-32. (In Persian)
  15. Karimipour, Y., Rabiei, H., & Yaghoubi, M. (2019). Investigating the convergence and divergence of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the framework of the geography of peace. the Quarterly Journal of New Attitudes in Human Geograph, 4, 307-324. (In Persian)
  16. Mansour, R. (2018). Saudi Arabia's new approach in Iraq. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Available at: https://www.csis.org/analysis/saudi-arabias-new-approach-iraq
  17. Nazemi, M., Shariati Feizabadi, M. (2017). Developing the conceps of cultural peace-making role of sport in international relations (Case Study of World against Aggression and Violence (WAVE) program proposed by the Iranian president). Socio-Cultural Strategy, 6(3), 163-188. (In Persian)
  18. Noori, D., Ghadimi, B., Shojae, M. (2018). Designing the model of Iran's football diplomacy based on grounded theory. Strategic Studies on Youth ans Sports, 17(41), 113-136. (In Persian)
  19. Noori, D., Ghadimi, B., Aslankhani, M., & Ali Pourdarvish, Z. (2019). Football diplomacy. Strategic Studies on Youth ans Sports, 18(45), 185-204. (In Persian)
  20. Nouralivand, Y. (2017). Saudi Arabia's attempts to rebuilding a regional balance with Iran. Strategic Studies Quarterly, 20(75), 133-158. (In Persian)
  21. Perra, A. (2017). Kennedy and the Middle East: The Cold War, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  22. Quandt, W. B. (2010). Saudi Arabia in the 1980s: Foreign policy, security, and oil., UK: Brookings Institution Press.
  23. Raeissadat, S., Mottaghi, A., Sajjadi, S., & Rabiei, H. (2021). The geopolitics of sport and diplomacy of neighborhood relations in the 2022 world cup in Qatar (Case study: Iran and the Persian Gulf Arab States). Geopolitics Quarterly, 17(64), 334-352. (In Persian)
  24. Reiche, D. R., & Sorek, T. (Eds.). (2019). Sport, politics and society in the Middle East. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  25. Shariati Feizabadi, M., & Goodarzi, M. (2016). The effectiveness of political system of Islamic Republic of Iran: A model for evaluation. Political Knowledge, 11(2), 95-127. (In Persian)
  26. Shariati Feizabadi, M. (2020). International sport management, technical and vocational. Tehran: Tehran University Press. (In Persian)
  27. Shariati Feizabadi, M., Monazzami, A. (2021). The empirical model of sport in development of public diplomacy. Communication Management in Sport Media, 8(3), 13-26.
  28. Shariati Feizabadi, M. (2021). Islamic Republic of Iran and Zionist Regime. Duality of Sport in International Arena. Strategic Studies Quarterly, 23(90), 205-224. (In Persian)
  29. Simons, W. M. (2021). Sports diplomacy: Origins, theory and practice: London: Routledge.
  30. .Sulayem, M. B., O'Connor, S., & Hassan, D. (Eds.). (2013). Sport management in the Middle East: A case study analysis. London: Routledge.

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 10 January 2022
  • Revise Date: 10 June 2022
  • Accept Date: 24 June 2022

Share

How to cite

Statistics