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The future of sport is Asia
Pole reversal is not just a scientific consideration, it’s also a geopolitical one. Sport, one of the greatest instruments of soft power, is its most visible manifestation. On the pitches, on the circuits and in the stadiums, Asia is the new Europe.
On February 1, 2019, Qatari footballer Akram Afif scored the winning goal in his nation’s Asian Cup Final victory over Japan in the United Arab Emirates. Within days of this, Parag Khanna published his prophetic text The Future is Asian, in which he explained how a pivot from the Global North to the Global South will bring the ascent of nations from across Asia to new positions of international power as the 21st century progresses.
For Qatar, this ascent began to gather speed nine years earlier when, in 2010, it won the right to host FIFA’s 2022 World Cup. Yet even in 2019, Doha was already positioned as a major sports event destination, hosting both the World Athletics Championship and FIFA’s Club World Cup. By that stage, it was clear that Asia’s rise was more a case of reality than prophecy. Indeed, in another book published that year, Fatima Bhutto heralded three new kings of the world (Bollywood, Dizi, and K-Pop), to which she could now add the likes of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Saudi Arabian football’s Pro League.
The wind of Asia
This wind of change has been blowing for at least two decades and is not simply a matter of where sports events are staged, or which countries have large populations to sustain them. For instance, Asian companies are increasingly becoming major backers of sport with China contributing the largest number of the Olympics’ global sponsors. Otherwise, think Real Madrid’s team shirt sponsor (Dubai’s state-owned Emirates Airline) or one of Formula 1’s most prominent partners — Petronas (Malaysia’s state-owned petroleum corporation) — and Asia’s growing commercial presence in sport is clear.
Similarly, there is a growing Asian presence in sports governance, perhaps most pertinently illustrated by Nasser Al-Khelaifi. The chairman of Qatar Sports Investments, Al-Khelaifi led the acquisition of French Ligue 1 football club Paris Saint Germain, for which he now serves as president. Through this role, he was able to become chairman of the European Clubs Association (which represents organisations including AC Milan and Manchester United), which, in turn, secured him a position on UEFA’s executive council. All of this means that an Asian now sits at the heart of one of European football’s most important decision-making bodies.
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