EASE Talks n°10 – The Geopolitics of Sport and its Impact on Employers in European Regions
EASE recently convened its 10th edition of EASE Talk during our April 2025 Board Meeting, inviting two leading voices in sport and geopolitics: Kévin Veyssière, founder of FC Geopolitics, and Dr Adam Metelski, professor at Poznan University of Economics and Business. Together they explored how shifting global power dynamics are reshaping the sports landscape—and what this means for European employers across all regions.
The session began by examining emerging state actors and the rise of soft power. Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar are now major players in football and other sports, leveraging club acquisitions, event hosting, and infrastructure investment to amplify their international influence. Likewise, China’s growing footprint—in football academies, esports leagues, and sponsorships—mirrors a broader strategy to project power through sport, while the ongoing US-China rivalry continues to reverberate across media rights and corporate sponsorships. The panel also noted how recent US political tensions, including athlete activism and sanctions against Russian competitors, underscore sport’s role as a stage for ideological conflict.
These geopolitical developments carry significant consequences for European sports enterprises, especially those built on community-driven models. Influxes of state-backed capital are driving up player wages and bidding wars for broadcasting rights, squeezing mid-tier clubs and smaller federations. There is a real risk that European organizations may feel compelled to follow the US closed-league model—abandoning promotion and relegation—to secure financial stability and investor appeal.
A special focus was placed on Central and Eastern Europe, where ambitions to host future Olympic Games and major tournaments are rising. Despite recent infrastructure gains—stadiums built for Euro 2012, for example—the region still lacks sufficient venues and sports participation rates lag behind Western Europe. This gap threatens to limit the region’s soft-power potential unless bolstered by targeted investment and collaborative development programmes.
Finally, the discussion broadened to global strategic observations: Africa’s emerging influence in sport diplomacy and economic development; the resilience of European institutions in promoting sport as a tool for unity and inclusion; and the imperative of preserving a pluralistic, multi-stakeholder model of global sports governance to counterbalance closed, state-backed systems.
The EASE Talk n°10 underscored that geopolitics is no longer peripheral but central to strategic decision-making in sport. For European employers—whether clubs, federations, or related businesses—the challenge is clear: adapt proactively, embrace collaboration, and uphold the values of openness and solidarity that define European sport.