Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber.

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On a snowy December morning in Washington , DC., the global football community descended on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—America’s cultural centre—to attend the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw.

While the stated purpose of the event is to outline the groupings for the teams participating in the 2026 men’s World Cup, set to be held in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, it was also a glitzy showcase like only America could produce. FIFA has booked a series of entertainers, including Andrea Bocelli, the Village People, Kevin Hart and “draw assistants” like Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, Wayne Gretzky, and Aaron Judge, adding a layer of showmanship that made the event feel closer to an awards ceremony than a procedural draw.

Yet beyond the medley of musical interludes, choreographed segments, and polished stagecraft, one particular moment stood out above the rest: the moment when FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced U.S. President Donald Trump as the winner of the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.

It was a strange decision on FIFA’s part. The organization’s own code of ethics demand a “duty of neutrality,” which means that FIFA officials were required to remain politically neutral when dealing with governmental institutions.” By offering a newly-created peace prize to the president of one of the host nations of the upcoming world cup, critics argued that FIFA had violated its own statutes, as well as its credibility.

FIFA framed the award as being given on behalf of more than five billion football fans worldwide, a sweeping claim meant to underscore the game’s unmatched audience and influence. Yet even as the applause echoed and the ceremony moved forward, a quieter question lingered in the background: by what process had this choice been made? No shortlist had been shared, no criteria beyond the broad mission statement had been detailed, and no voting mechanism had been explained.

Under Infantino, FIFA has become more centralized, its decision-making increasingly opaque and concentrated at the top. The FIFA Peace Prize, unveiled and awarded without any clear process, felt less like a global honour and more like a unilateral decree—an example of how power inside the organization is now exercised.

That approach is not happening in isolation. It aligns with the trajectory of the tournaments themselves. The 2030 World Cup will stretch across multiple locations, including Morocco, while 2034 is set for Saudi Arabia—hosts where image, authority, and centralized control are deeply embedded in how major events are staged.

So what can we do about it?

Listen to Ep. 5 of Power Plays to find out.

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Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription (or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber.

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As a kid growing up in the Middle East, the World Cup was a magical time.

Every four years, the tournament transformed Cairo’s streets into month-long gathering places for millions of fans. Old rivalries were resurrected and new friendships were formed over late-night matches at crowded shisha cafes and sporting clubs.

One of the rituals I remember vividly during those days was collecting and trading Panini stickers to complete my World Cup album. It was an obsession that started in 2002, when Egypt had a supermarket promotion with La Vache Qui Rit (The Laughing Cow), whereby you could find a batch of the sought-after football cards in each circular container of spreadable cheese. The promotion worked; I nagged my mother to buy dozens of La Vache Qui Rit containers so I could complete the album, which I still have to this day.

While Panini stickers have historically carried the hopes and faces of football stars, in Mexico, activists are using the same format to shine a spotlight on their loved ones who have been forcibly disappeared.

Mexico, which will co-host the 2026 edition of the FIFA World Cup alongside Canada and the United States, is in the midst of a longstanding crisis. The country’s National Registry recorded 134,460 missing persons, many of whom were forcibly recruited into drug cartels or were brutally murdered for resisting their fate. That figure is enough to fill the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, which has a capacity of 83,000 people, one and a half times over.

The surge in disappearances over the past decade reflects the growing influence of organized crime across Mexico. Large areas of the country now fall under near-total control of the cartels, which often grow their ranks through forced recruitment. In order to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities, cartels dispose of corpses burying them in unmarked graves, incinerating them, or dissolving them in vats of acid.

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Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

In the years leading up to the 2022 World Cup, the global spotlight was trained relentlessly on Qatar’s ambitious preparations. Stadiums rose from the desert. Roads, hotels, and metros were built. But behind the gleaming infrastructure lay a workforce of hundreds of thousands of migrant labourers—workers whose stories rarely made the front pages.

Amid this backdrop was Abdullah Ibhais, a Jordanian communications expert in his mid‑30s, a father of two young boys, and at one time a rising staffer within the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the Qatari government body responsible for planning and delivering the World Cup. In 2019, his role involved managing media messaging about Qatar’s preparations, giving him an unusually close view of both the organization’s inner workings and the darker realities behind the World Cup build‑up.

Ibhais’s story did not begin in opposition to the World Cup—it began with a growing awareness of labour issues and a conviction that the truth mattered. In August 2019, tens of thousands of migrant workers employed on World Cup–related projects staged a strike in Doha after months of unpaid wages, confiscated passports, and harsh living conditions. Videos of demonstration lines and chanting men circulated online. Workers claimed they were building stadiums and fan accommodations for the World Cup, and their grievances could no longer be ignored.

Inside the Supreme Committee, Ibhais became one of the few voices urging transparency. Rather than deny the workers’ connections to World Cup projects, he argued, the organisation should publicly acknowledge the situation and focus on securing redress for the workers—especially since failure to do so risked fuelling global criticism at a time when international rights groups were already scrutinising conditions on construction sites. But his advocacy quickly drew unwelcome attention.

On 12 November 2019, Qatari State Security officers arrested Ibhais at a security office in northern Doha. He was 33 years old. His family later said authorities confiscated his electronic devices and interrogated him for days. According to Amnesty International documentation, he was not allowed effective legal counsel during his early questioning and was pressured into signing a “confession.”

The official charges were a dramatic departure from labour issues. Ibhais was accused of “misuse of public funds,” “bribery,” “collusion,” and “intentional damage to public funds”—allegations linked to a dispute over a tender for social media services within the Supreme Committee. Although his family and advocates insisted the charges were fabricated in retaliation for his outspoken criticism of migrant conditions, authorities maintained the case was about corruption and finance.

What followed was a sham of a trial.

During one appeal hearing, Qatar’s courts upheld his conviction despite the fact that his original “confession”—the prosecution’s central piece of evidence—had been retracted, with Ibhais claiming it was extracted under duress and without a lawyer present. Human Rights Watch noted that the court failed to investigate his allegations of coercion, effectively accepting the confession at face value. His sentence was eventually reduced on appeal to three years’ imprisonment, but only after he had already spent much of that time in custody and under travel ban restrictions. Human‑rights advocates emphasized that the real reason for his detention appeared to be precisely what he had warned about: pressure to spin the narrative around migrant worker abuses rather than confront them.

While Ibhais was in prison, his case galvanized international attention. In July 2024, a United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that his detention was arbitrary and called for his immediate release and compensation, citing violations of his right to a fair trial and suggesting his prosecution was linked to his criticism of migrant conditions rather than genuine criminal conduct. The ruling pointed to alleged threats, physical abuse during interrogation, and coercion to secure a confession as central concerns.

At various points during his imprisonment, his family issued public appeals calling on FIFA to act on his behalf. In a letter made public during his detention, his relatives argued that FIFA’s silence and lack of intervention made the sport’s governing body “responsible for his life, safety and well‑being,” noting that he had been targeted only after internal criticism of how workers’ protests were handled. Remarkably, Ibhais’s ordeal continued even after high‑profile documentaries and journalistic exposés drew global scrutiny. In some accounts, his family and rights groups alleged he was mistreated and even tortured, including being held in darkness and extreme conditions as punishment for participating in media projects that exposed labour abuses. These allegations were denied by Qatari authorities, who maintained the charges and trial were lawful, but they underscored how contentious and politically charged his case had become internationally.

By 2025, Ibhais had been released after roughly three years in detention, but his fight was far from over. In interviews with outlets such as Forbes, he declared his intention to sue both FIFA and the Supreme Committee, arguing that his punishment was a direct consequence of speaking up about labour abuses and that both organizations had failed to protect him despite knowing the risks he faced.

Beyond the specifics of his own case, Ibhais’s story became emblematic of broader tensions around freedom of expression, labour rights, and accountability in the context of the World Cup. Ibhais was also supposed to speak at the 2026 Oslo Freedom Forum in June but had his passport confiscated by Jordanian officials at Qatar’s behest, emphasizing the Gulf state’s continued efforts at transnational repression.

Here are some of the details, as published by the Human Rights Foundation:

On May 10, 2026, Jordanian authorities at Queen Alia International Airport detained Ibhais for nearly three hours upon his return from speaking at Nordic Media Days in Bergen, Norway. Officials questioned him extensively about his public engagements, confiscated his passport, and summoned him to the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) headquarters in Amman.

During multiple subsequent visits to the GID headquarters to retrieve his passport, authorities subjected Ibhais to prolonged questioning by unidentified officers. He was informed that a previous understanding allowing him to discuss his arbitrary detention in Qatar was being revoked. Authorities instructed him to cancel all planned public engagements, including his upcoming participation at the Oslo Freedom Forum, and to cease all commentary regarding Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, his personal legal case, and the conditions of migrant workers.

The interrogations heavily centered on his public advocacy. Officers accused him of misrepresenting his treatment in Qatari custody and repeatedly dismissed the findings of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which had previously ruled his imprisonment in Qatar as arbitrary and a violation of international law.

Authorities then pressured Ibhais to sign a written pledge committing to total public silence regarding Qatar. Following his refusal, officers warned of a potential travel ban, prolonged administrative detention, and blacklisting. They threatened to charge him with “disturbing relations with a brotherly country” and ensure that he would spend seven years in prison.

Despite being unable to travel in person, Ibhais still appeared remotely to deliver his speech at the Oslo Freedom Forum.

Listen to Ep. 4 of Power Plays to learn more about Ibhais’ case.

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription (or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

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Kirsten Lebrun has worked at the Pan Pacific Hotel in downtown Vancouver for thirteen years. She has served guests through a pandemic, labour disputes, and the slow, grinding process of negotiating the first union contract. Since February 2021, Lebrun and her colleagues have been part of UNITE HERE Local 40, which represents workers in the hotel, food service, and airport industries throughout British Columbia.

“Our last [interim] contract ended in June of last year. It’s been almost a year with no contract and almost two years with no raise,” said Lebrun.

She was one of dozens of workers who marched outside the hotel, across from the Vancouver Convention Centre, where football officials were gathered for the 76th annual FIFA Congress on April 30. Pan Pacific was one of the three hotels where delegates were staying for the event, considered the kickoff to this summer’s World Cup. According to Lebrun, the hotel is projected to bring in around $45 million from pre-bookings alone, driven by a record-breaking cruise season and the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which features seven matches in Vancouver.

Yet, Lebrun and her colleagues are still fighting for an agreement with fair wages and working conditions that allow them to afford the city they live in.

“With the price of gas, food, rent, mortgage rate and everything that’s going on. It’s just not sustainable to be left behind,” she said. Their dispute is part of a broader movement in the province’s hospitality sector, marked by a recent wave of unionization, strikes and pressure campaigns.

In the last nine months alone, five new Metro Vancouver hotels have voted to join the union. After months of organizing, workers at the Hyatt Alberni secured an agreement in December 2025 that included a pension, job security provisions, and wages up to $40 an hour. In Victoria, Coast Victoria Hotel workers struck for 77 days, in what became the longest hotel strike and lockout in the city’s history, before winning wage increases of up to 21 per cent in November 2025.

The last two times that Lebrun and her colleagues rallied, their employer called them immediately after and set up negotiations. But talks largely stalled.

“We just want to be at the same level as the other hotels,” she said. “We’re far behind, and they have not kept up with inflation.”

The rally outside the Pan Pacific was one of two protests that converged on the FIFA Congress in late April. Steps away, a coalition of Downtown Eastside advocates, including housing lawyers, harm reduction workers, and police oversight groups, held a press conference outlining their concerns.

The Downtown Eastside is one of Vancouver’s oldest and poorest neighbourhoods, sitting in the shadow of BC Place Stadium, where the games will be played. Home to generations of low-income residents, Indigenous people, and people experiencing homelessness, it is also one of the most overpoliced and surveilled communities in Canada. Residents are subjected to frequent “street sweeps,” during which city workers, often accompanied by police officers, move through the neighbourhood, clearing people’s tents, makeshift homes, and personal belongings, and throwing them into garbage bins or trucks. Many lose essential items, including medications, ID, clothing and even irreplaceable items like Indigenous art and the ashes of deceased loved ones. While the city insists it has no plans to displace people for the World Cup, critics see it otherwise.

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Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber.

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On December 2, 2010, inside FIFA headquarters in Zurich, the organization’s executive committee voted to award the 2018 FIFA World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

It was the first time the World Cup would be staged in Eastern Europe and in the Arab Gulf. It was also the first time that the world’s most prestigious mega-event would be held in back-to-back authoritarian states, altering the trajectory of world football for a generation.

To understand how Russia secured the World Cup, one must first understand the system that made it possible, including the man at the organization’s helm: Sepp Blatter.

Born in Visp, Switzerland in 1936, Blatter joined FIFA in 1975 after a varied career that included roles as head of public relations for the tourist board of Visp, as well as general secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation. He became FIFA president in 1998, succeeding Havelange after spending 17 years as FIFA’s general secretary.

Following in Havelange’s footsteps, Blatter consolidated authority within an organization already criticized for patronage politics. He expanded development funding to smaller federations, building loyalty across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

But the same centralized power that fuelled FIFA’s growth also cultivated corruption. By the early 2000s, accusations of bribery and vote-buying were common. The 2010 vote awarding the World Cups to Russia and Qatar became a flashpoint. Critics pointed to Russia’s limited infrastructure at the time, concerns about governance and human rights, and the scale of investment required.

In 2015, just three years before Russia’s tournament, U.S. authorities unsealed sweeping indictments against FIFA officials in a corruption probe. Several executives were arrested in Zurich. Although Blatter initially survived, he resigned soon after amid mounting pressure and was later banned from football for ethics violations.

By the time Russia hosted in 2018, the man who had presided over its selection was gone but the political architecture he built remained intact, ready to be manipulated by one of the world’s most cunning and ruthless autocrats.

Sport, too, became central to Putin’s vision for a post-Soviet Russia. Mega-events like the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi offered an unprecedented platform to celebrate Putin’s Russia—an enormous showcase of infrastructure and spectacle. It worked, with the world celebrating Russia’s return to the liberal order.

Four days after the closing ceremony for the 2014 Winter Games, Russian soldiers began their military operation to annex Crimea, then international recognized as part of Ukraine.

The annexation of Crimea put an end to much of the goodwill that Russia had received from hosting the Winter Games. Western sanctions crippled its economy; diplomatic expulsions followed as Russia faced strained relations with much of Europe and the United States.

It was precisely in this climate of Cold-War esque geopolitical tension that Russia began preparing to host the 2018 World Cup.

Russia committed roughly $11–12 billion to stadium construction, transportation upgrades, and urban development across 11 host cities, from Kaliningrad on the Baltic to Yekaterinburg near the Urals. New stadiums rose in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and beyond. Airports were renovated. High-speed rail lines improved connections.

Russian authorities sought to counter narratives of isolation and authoritarianism by presenting a welcoming, efficient, culturally vibrant nation. State media emphasized hospitality. Visa-free Fan IDs simplified travel. Volunteers were trained to greet foreigners warmly.

But skepticism remained. International outlets questioned Russia’s human rights record, its anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and the threat posed by organized hooligan groups. Several Russian host cities faced international criticism over reports that authorities were killing stray dogs in an effort to present a cleaner image to visiting fans.

Russia also moved to rein in one of its most notorious subcultures: organized football hooliganism. Russian fan groups had drawn international scrutiny after violent clashes with England supporters at Euro 2016 in Marseille, fueling concerns that similar disorder could erupt on home soil. Determined to avoid embarrassment during a tournament meant to showcase a modern, controlled Russia, Vladimir Putin’s government adopted a far tougher stance. Authorities expanded surveillance, imposed travel bans on known troublemakers, strengthened stadium security laws, and worked closely with security services to monitor extremist fan networks.

The crackdown reflected a broader pattern in Putin’s governance—permitting displays of aggressive patriotism when useful, but swiftly suppressing them when they threatened state control or international prestige.

The World Cup had thus become an exercise in soft power.

Listen to Episode 3 of Power Plays on your favourite podcast platform now.

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription (or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

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The 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico arrived at a moment when Brazil was living two parallel realities.

On one side stood the most luminous national football team the world had ever seen: a Seleção whose fluid, joyous style felt like an expression of freedom itself. On the other stood a military dictatorship that had seized power in 1964 and, by the end of the decade, hardened into one of the most repressive regimes in Latin America. Football became the bridge between those realities.

General Emílio Garrastazu Médici, who assumed the presidency in 1969, understood that football was Brazil’s closest equivalent to a secular faith, capable of commanding loyalty that politics alone could not. That belief shaped his courtship of Pelé and his approach to the 1970 World Cup. Brazil’s eventual victory proved that football could polish authoritarian power.

By the time the 1978 World Cup began, Argentina was deep into the Dirty War. The military junta led by General Jorge Rafael Videla had seized power in 1976 and unleashed a campaign of systematic terror. Tens of thousands were abducted into a network of detention centers where torture and execution were routine. Yet Argentina had been awarded the World Cup long before the coup, and the generals quickly recognized its value. Football was declared a matter of “national interest,” and the regime worked relentlessly to present Argentina as stable, modern, and united.

When Argentina won the final against the Netherlands, the image that lingered was not just Daniel Passarella lifting the trophy, but Videla standing beside him. FIFA president João Havelange handed the cup to the dictator, who then passed it to his players—a symbolic chain that emphasized FIFA’s role in propping up these military regimes.

Since being elected FIFA President in 1974, Havelange set about changing FIFA’s internal culture. Instead of following the ethos of Jules Rimet, who prized the dignity of sport, Havelange—the son of an arms dealer—was far more transactional. He prized loyalty, discretion, and deal-making over transparency. In that environment, authoritarian regimes made for excellent bedfellows.

In those years, football crossed a threshold. It remained a game capable of beauty and transcendence, but it also became a tool of statecraft, propaganda, and institutional power. The cheers were real. The goals were real. But so was the silence that surrounded them—and the structures that learned how to use it.

Listen to Episode 2 of Power Plays to learn more about this pivotal time in FIFA history.

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription (or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

Get 60% off forever

When I was a teenager, I used to sneak onto the roof of my apartment building to smoke joints with my girlfriend and the delightful bunch of delinquents we called friends. The roof itself wasn’t much—a mess of old antennas shaped like flying saucers, an electrical closet, and some dusty, old cement blocks to sit on. What it did have going for it was that, despite being located in the southern suburbs of Cairo, we had a clear view of the Pyramids in the distance, more than 20 kilometres away.

At the time, we all took this remarkable backdrop for granted. We were, after all, more interested in the hash being passed around and whatever teenage drama was happening at that time. The Pyramids were a part of everyone’s backdrop; something you could see when driving to work, or on your way to school. Some hotels and restaurants have a direct view of the Pyramids, yet we never seemed to make a big deal of it. It was just there—as typical as a bowl of koshary or a steaming cup of mint tea.

This isn’t to suggest that Egyptians aren’t fiercely proud of the pyramids and their heritage. Ask any Egyptian you know about the pyramids and they will instinctively puff out their chests with pride as though you just congratulated them on something they personally achieved. We simply lived in their presence for so long that we no longer stood in awe of them. Which is what makes it so surreal to watch as the pyramids transform from a quiet symbol of Egyptian pride and history to a backdrop for everything from raves and concerts, to weddings and, most recently, a Saudi-funded boxing super-fight.

On Saturday night, Oleksandr Usyk retained his world heavyweight titles following a highly controversial 11th round stoppage victory against kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven. It was just Verhoeven’s second professional boxing fight and, despite being an overwhelming betting underdog, was potentially en route to one of the greatest upsets in boxing history. The chaotic ending capped off a bizarre night at the Pyramids filled with eye rolling ancient Egyptian cliches and motifs, hype videos dripping with AI slop, ridiculously corny walkouts marketed as “iconic.”

I mean, am I wrong?

The architect of this gaudy spectacle was Turki al-Sheikh, one of Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman’s loyal henchmen and the person behind the kingdom’s boxing ambitions. Al-Shiekh, who helms Saudi’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA), has had a massive impact on boxing in recent years, having bankrolled some of the most high-profile heavyweight fights and broken through negotiation stalemates by offering record-breaking sums of money. His success as a promoter has made him one of the sport’s most powerful figures, while fans and media affectionately refer to him as “His Excellency,” — a title that underscores his growing cult of personality.

Al Sheikh’s expanding personality cult and influence has stifled criticism within boxing. Fans are willing to overlook troubling behaviour as long as he continues to deliver exciting matchups, while journalists, eager to maintain their critical access, often frame the narrative in his favour. As Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) faces mounting financial pressure—further intensified in the aftermath of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran—Turki Al-Sheikh’s longtime rival, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, appears to be losing his standing as the kingdom’s most influential figure in sports. Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor who oversaw costly Saudi sports ventures such as LIV Golf, which reportedly incurred more than $5 billion in losses over four years, is increasingly vulnerable, potentially clearing the way for Al-Sheikh to take the reins. A boxing superfight at the Great Pyramids was merely his latest attempt to solidify his status as Saudi’s leading sports and entertainment figure.

Events at the Pyramids are nothing new. In 1978, the Grateful Dead performed a trio of shows there, becoming the first Western band to perform at the ancient site. The following year, Frank Sinatra performed a charity concert at the base of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, at the invitation of Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat. Mariah Carey and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers followed in their footsteps in 2010 and 2019, respectively. Yet over the past couple of years, the Pyramids have hosted a startling amount of raves, from Carol Cox, and Tiësto to the cheesy audio-visual spectacle of Anyma.

The Pyramids have also hosted lavish weddings for some of India’s wealthiest families, sometimes requiring bespoke venues near the ancient wonders. One of those weddings was even profiled in Vogue magazine. These extravagant parties stand in stark contrast to the dire economic conditions facing most Egyptians. After heavy investments in a new administrative capital larger than entire countries like Singapore, the coronavirus pandemic, and other financial mismanagement, Egypt was facing its worst economic crisis in a generation. Had it not been for risky IMF loans and massive investments from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt would have likely been devastated.

The situation has greatly improved over the past year. The country’s GDP is increasing while its credit rating was recently upgraded. Nevertheless, Egypt continues to rely on investments from the Gulf, such as the developments being undertaken by Qatar and the UAE along Egypt’s mediterranean coast, which may dry up if the Iran war does not come to an end. This includes loaning out its heritage so that al-Sheikh can say he put on the first boxing match at the Pyramids. And yet, it isn’t the masterstroke of soft power that al-Sheikh had intended. The Pyramids are far more magnificent than anything Saudi Arabia has to offer, and the fact that al-Sheikh chose that as a backdrop rather than, say, the Saudi desert landscape of Al-Ula, reveals much about the Saudi regime’s psyche: they may have more money than God, but money can’t buy buy culture, and it most certainly can’t buy civilization.

Seated alongside Jason Statham in the front row, al-Sheikh appeared to have his moment on Saturday night. But the truth is, few others in attendance actually liked him. When al-Sheikh was first endowed with a hefty budget as Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, he decided his first investment would be in Egypt. He offered to invest in Egypt’s Al Ahly, Africa’s most successful football club, and became its honourary president in 2017. Yet following a series of shady decisions, including trading Al Ahly players to Saudi Arabian teams, Egyptians turned on him.

During a now-infamous match in 2018, Al Ahly fans chanted insults at al-Shiekh’s mother. Upon hearing the chants, al-Sheikh resigned from his role and left in disgrace. Eight years later, he remains one of the least liked people in Egypt.

Yet another thing that al-Sheikh can’t buy: respect.

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

Get 60% off forever

At the turn of the twentieth century, football was still a young, malleable thing.

Its rules had only recently been standardized in Britain, and even then they varied from place to place. The game was slower and more physical. There were no substitutes, muddy pitches were the norm, and tactics were childishly simple by modern standards. Footballers were often workers first and athletes second—dockhands, factory laborers, clerks—playing for civic pride.

The world that surrounded the game was also changing. Industrialization had torn people from villages and traditions, pushing them into dense cities where older forms of community, such as the church, were weakening. Empires were crumbling The First World War was looming, eager to demonstrate that modernity could annihilate millions with exceptional efficiency. In this environment, football became more than a pastime. It offered rhythm in a chaotic age, a shared calendar of matches and rivalries, and a collective emotional escape.

By the 1920s, football had become a language that crossed class and literacy barriers. For nations newly formed or newly traumatized by war, football offered a way to imagine themselves as coherent, disciplined, and worthy. International football, too, was still in its adolescence. Founded in 1904, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was a fragile and largely administrative body that lacked both the authority and the financial independence it would later acquire.

Even the World Cup was itself an experiment. And no one understood the implications of this moment better—or earlier—than Benito Mussolini.

When his Black Shirts seized power in 1922, Mussolini recognized that mass politics in the twentieth century required mass spectacle. Consent had to be manufactured emotionally, not just enforced violently. Sport, and football in particular, offered an unparalleled vehicle. It mobilized crowds without coercion, loyalty without argument, and pride without explanation.

The fascist regime set about transforming Italy into a “sports nation.” Football stadiums were built as monumental public spaces designed to awe the masses. Mussolini carefully cultivated his own image as a virile sportsman, embodying the hypermasculinity of the fascist “new Italian.” In 1937, the French magazine Vu famously placed a shirtless Mussolini on its cover beneath the headline “Mussolini: Sporting Dictator,” capturing the fusion of power, body, and spectacle that defined his rule.

When FIFA awarded Italy the right to host the 1934 World Cup, Mussolini immediately grasped what FIFA’s own leadership barely understood: that the tournament could be more powerful than any diplomatic summit. The World Cup was not merely a sporting competition; it was a stage—a stage to present the power of fascism.

Listen to Episode 1 of Power Plays for more about the 1934 World Cup.

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

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I’m delighted to announce the launch of Power Plays, a narrative audio series focusing on the intersection of sports, politics, and authoritarianism.

Season 1 looks at how authoritarian regimes use FIFA’s showpiece event, the World Cup, to tighten their grip on power. Broken down into five episodes, this first season will feature some of the most renowned voices in global football, including historians and renowned authors Jonathan Wilson and David Goldblatt, as well as dissidents like 2022 World Cup whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais and Pussy Riot member Nika Nikulshina.

From Mussolini’s fascist Italy in 1934 to the bloodstained grip of Argentina’s military junta in 1978; from Putin’s kleptocratic police state in Russia, 2018, to Qatar in 2022, the glittering Gulf monarchy erected on the toil and suffering of migrant workers, we leave no stone unturned in our descent into the dark and dirty underbelly of World Cup history. We also look ahead to this year’s World Cup, as well as those in 2030 and 2034, when the World Cup heads to Saudi Arabia.

Power Plays was created by me, Karim Zidan, and Elie Bleier. It was produced by Elie Bleier and Robert Scarammucia, and is presented by the Human Rights Foundation.

The series will begin airing on Thursday, May 21, 2026 and will conclude on June 10, 2026, right before the start of the 2026 World Cup.

Subscribe now on your favourite podcast platform to never miss an episode!

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

Get 60% off forever

After Barcelona won its 29th La Liga title last week following a 2-0 victory against its perennial rival Real Madrid, tens of thousands of delighted fans lined the streets of Barcelona to greet their heroes during the parade around the Spanish city.

During the celebrations, viral footage showed the team’s teenage superstar, Lamine Yamal, raise a Palestinian flag to cheers from the crowd in attendance.

For those who follow Lamal on social media, his latest gesture comes as no surprise. The 18-year-old is a practising Muslim who has regularly used his platform to express his personal beliefs. This extends beyond his Palestinian activism: in March, Lamal spoke out agains the “ignorant and racist” anti-Muslim chants that took place during a friendly match between Spain and Egypt in Barcelona.

Lamal is also a resident of Barcelona, which has served as a significant hub of Palestinian activism in Spain and the Western world. It has hosted regular protests, and was even a departure point for several aid flotillas that sailed for Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli-imposed blockade on the besieged strip. Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez has also emerged as one of Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel, especially with regard to the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Gaza. In 2025, he called on Israel to be banned from international sports so long as its “barbarism” in Gaza continues.

Nevertheless, Lamal’s gesture in support of Palestine drew a visceral response from Israeli officials. On Thursday, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz took to X to accuse the 18-year-old of inciting hatred against Israel and the Jewish people, and demand that the club to distance itself from Yamal’s actions.

“Lamine Yamal chose to incite hatred against Israel while our soldiers are fighting the terrorist organization Hamas, an organization that massacred, raped, burned, and murdered Jewish children, women, and the elderly on October 7th,” wrote Katz, who failed to elaborate on how Yamal incited hatred beyond waving the Palestinian flag.

“Anyone who supports this kind of message must ask themselves: Do they consider this humanitarian? Is this moral? As Minister of Defence of the State of Israel, I will not remain silent in the face of incitement against Israel and the Jewish people,” Katz continued. “I hope that a large and respected club like FC Barcelona will distance itself from these statements and make it unequivocally clear that there is no place for incitement or support of terrorism.”

Spain’s PM responded shortly thereafter, insisting that “those who consider waving the flag of a State to be “inciting hatred” have either lost their judgment or been blinded by their own ignominy.

“Lamine has only expressed the solidarity with Palestine felt by millions of Spaniards. Another reason to be proud of him,” Sanchez continued.

It is worth noting that this isn’t the first time that Katz has made controversial statements on social media. The Israeli defence minister, who oversees the IDF and its open fronts in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, has previously announced plans to permanently occupy parts of Gaza and even suggested building settlements there, though was forced to walk back the latter statement. HE entered into a public clash with French officials after France banned Israeli companies from participating in a defense exhibition in Paris. Katz even threatened to jail Jibril Rajoub, the president of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), for his ongoing efforts to ban Israel from international football.

“Jibril Rajoub, a terrorist in a suit who openly supported Hamas’s crimes, is working around the clock to get Israel removed from the international soccer association,” Katz wrote in a tweet, which included a picture of Rajoub in prison attire. “We will work to thwart his plans, and if he doesn’t stop—we will imprison him in the Muqata’a [presidential compound in Ramallah], where he will be left to play Stanga by himself between the walls.”

Katz’s most recent inflammatory statements directed at Yamal are particularly troubling because they deliberately conflate expressions of solidarity with Palestinians — including the display of the Palestinian flag — with antisemitism and incitement against Israel and Jews. This undermines the distinction between criticism of Israeli state policies and antisemitism and stigmatizes peaceful advocacy for Palestinian rights while weaponizing accusations of antisemitism to silence dissent.

Meanwhile, Katz’s statements also coincided with Jerusalem Day, where Israeli nationalists marched through the ancient city to mark the anniversary of its capture and annexation while chanting “death to Arabs” and “Gaza is a graveyard.” Not only did Katz’s not condemn this clear incitement of violence, one of his colleagues, national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was in attendance and unfurled an Israeli flag in from of the al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam.

Nevertheless, Yamal’s solidarity has since resonated around the world, especially where it matters most. A mural of the teenager waving the flag has been painted amidst the rumble in Gaza.

“I worked on this painting after the player Lamine Yamal raised the flag of Palestine at a huge celebration that the whole world saw,” Palestinian artist Ubay al-Qurshali told Reuters. “We want to thank the player Lamine Yamal for what he did. He risked his career, he risked his playing and he risked his future, (but) he didn’t care and he supported the Palestinian cause.”

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

Get 60% off forever

Dear readers,

I am delighted to share an exclusive excerpt from Jules Boykoff’s new book, Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine. Boykoff is a man of many hats: a professor of political science at Pacific University; a former professional and Olympic soccer player; and the author of countless books on the intersection of sports and politics. He is one of the foremost thinkers operating in this space and is someone I respect tremendously and am proud to call my friend. It is an honour to feature his writing on Sports Politika and I hope you consider buying his new book here. You will not regret it.

-Karim

Soccer is never just soccer. And sports are politics by other means.

This was abundantly clear when the powerbrokers of world football convened in December 2025 for the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw. Glitz and glam were in abundance. Supermodel Heidi Klum emceed the event alongside actor Kevin Hart. The audience included a Who’s Who of North American sports icons: NBA great Shaquille O’Neal, hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, NFL Super Bowl champions Tom Brady, and New England Patriots owner—and Epstein files staple—Robert Kraft. The event featured the heads of state from all three host countries: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, and US President Donald Trump. To close the show, the Village People played its MAGA anthem “YMCA,” a brazen sop to Trump. The point of the event—sorting the 48 countries into twelve groups to compete in the World Cup—was relegated to a mere sideshow, lost amid the star-studded bromide-o-rama.

The event took place in Washington, DC, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, renamed later that month “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” before being shut down when numerous artists refused to perform there. FIFA relocated the event from Las Vegas to make it as convenient as possible for Trump to attend. The switch was orchestrated by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, a man who had long made a tactical habit of sucking up to the powerful.

Infantino took his sycophancy to the next level at the 2026 World Cup draw, awarding Trump with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, a wholly confected accolade with no precedent, let alone serious criteria. The award—technically titled “FIFA Peace Prize – Football Unites the World”—was concocted the previous month “to reward individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world.”^[1] Infantino’s unilateral decision to establish the award blindsided his colleagues at the FIFA Council, composed of eight vice-presidents, 28 members at large, and chaired by Infantino himself. Some FIFA Council members first heard about the prize by reading a press release. When Human Rights Watch wrote to FIFA to request basic information about the prize—its search criteria, the nomination process, the judges for the award—the group was unceremoniously stonewalled.

The design of the trophy itself was downright bizarre: a gaudy assemblage of thin, grizzled hands that looked as if they were surfacing from the bowels of hell, stretching toward a golden orb hovering above. Infantino, who vocally supported Trump’s failed bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which instead went to Venezuela’s right-wing opposition leader María Corina Machado, took to the stage to explain why he chose Trump for the award: “This is what we want from a leader, a leader that cares about the people. We want to live in a safe world, in a safe environment. We want to unite. That’s what we do here today. That’s what we do at the World Cup, Mr. President, and you definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action, for what you have obtained in your way, but you obtained it in an incredible way.” Infantino went on to gush, “You can always count, Mr. President, on my support, on the support of the entire football community, or soccer community, to help you make peace and make the world prosper all over the world.”^[2]

Because Trump is a megalomaniac with a crude, transactional governing style and zero commitment to truth, he is well-situated to leverage the toxic gangsterism of sports. “The truth is that sport, in its current hyper-politicized and hyper-commodified form, is exquisitely suited to Trump’s needs,” wrote Bryan Armen Graham in the Guardian. “It supplies the crowds, the cameras, the ritual patriotism and the ready-made mythologies of strength and struggle. It gives him stadiums and arenas that can be turned into instant rallies and backstage corridors that double as donor gatherings.” In addition, Graham notes, “It offers him a role he prefers to the one described in the constitution: not head of the executive branch, but ringmaster-in-chief.”^[3]

Infantino has been Trump’s primary enabler when it comes to converting soccer into political advantage. He has visited the White House and Mar-a-Lago more than any world leader, so many times that Trump might start charging him rent. In fact, after Infantino established a New York headquarters in Trump Towers, he actually is paying rent to Trump.^[4] Gianni Infantino is Trump’s principal accomplice when it comes to sportswashing.

With Infantino and Trump staining the 2026 World Cup, there is much to fight against. But football is the people’s game, and as the tournament approaches, there is so much to fight for as well.

From Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine by Jules Boykoff. Published by OR Books: https://orbooks.com/catalog/red-card/

^[1] FIFA, “FIFA Introduces the FIFA Peace Prize – An Award to Recognise Exceptional Actions for Peace and Unity,” 5 November 2025, https://inside.fifa.com/organisation/media-releases/peace-prize-award-football-unites-the-world-infantino?requester=MediaHub

^[2] Dave Zirin and Jules Boykoff, “FIFA Kisses Up to Trump With a ‘Peace Prize’,” The Nation, 5 December 2025, https://www.thenation.com/article/society/fifa-trump-infantino-peace-prize/

^[3] Bryan Armen Graham, “Trump Loomed Over Sport Like Never Before in 2025. Next Year He Will Take Even More, Guardian, 24 December 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/dec/24/donald-trump-sports-world-cup-ufc-white-house

^[4] Matt Slater, “FIFA Opens New York Office in U.S. President’s Trump Tower,” New York Times, 8 July 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6479639/2025/07/08/fifa-trump-tower-new-york-club-world-cup/

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

Get 60% off forever

Less than 48 hours after seizing the UFC middleweight crown at UFC 319 in August 2025, Khamzat Chimaev touched down in Chechnya to a reception fit for a conquering hero. As he emerged from the plane in Grozny, crowds swarmed the fighter on the tarmac, chanting the name of the republic’s first UFC champion. But amid the celebration stood a figure whose presence carried far more weight than the adoring fans: Ramzan Kadyrov, the warlord who has governed Chechnya with an iron fist.

Moments after stepping off the plane, the new champion handed his UFC belt directly to Kadyrov, who raised it before cameras and reporters like a political trophy before passing it to his 17-year-old son, Adam. “He handed me the belt he won in battle, and with this gesture emphasized that his victory is a common victory of our people,” Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel.

Waiting nearby was a brand-new Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 in which Chimaev departed the airport under escort. The car costed upwards of $𝟏𝟖𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎—a reward fit for Kadyrov’s favourite fighter.

Over the past several years, the Chechen-born Chimaev has become the crown jewel of Kadyrov’s carefully cultivated MMA empire, regularly appearing in photographs alongside the strongman and his family. In return for his loyalty, Kadyrov has lavished the fighter with extravagant rewards: fleets of Mercedes luxury cars, an expansive villa in Grozny, and even arranged Chimaev’s marriage in 2022.

It was a remarkable trajectory for a fighter who was once just a poor refugee living in Sweden. In 2017, a month after his professional MMA debut, Chimaev was convicted of assault. He was charged after punching an employee in the face when he and his companion were accused of stealing a pair of headphones. Chimaev fled the scene but was later apprehended by the police. He was found guilty and received a suspended sentence with 50 hours of community service.

By 2020, however, Chimaev was a breakout star in the UFC. His quick knockout victories drew the attention of Kadyrov, who took him under his wing and elevated the fighter to his coveted inner circle. He also took charge of Chimaev’s career. When the UFC fighter attempted to retire after contracting Covid-19, Kadyrov insisted that he continue to compete. In 2022, Kadyrov filmed one of his sparring sessions with Chimaev. During the session, Chimaev allowed Kadyrov to take him down and pretended to tap out when the warlord choked him out.

“I myself could not resist the temptation to test my strength in a friendly duel with our dear brother,” Kadyrov said in the caption that accompanied the video.

Chimaev has also taken on the role of glorified babysitter to Kadyrov’s children. The UFC fighter trained Ali, one of Kadyrov’s sons, ahead of his professional debut in December 2022 and brought him along to training camps with some of the UFC’s top fighters in places like Dubai and Thailand. Ali and his brother Adam were in Chimaev’s corner at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi and again at UFC 308, also in Abu Dhabi.

While Chimaev’s subservience to Kadyrov and his family has elevated him to one of the most influential and recognizable figures in Chechnya, it also complicated his path to international stardom.

In 2024, I reported exclusively for Sports Politika that Chimaev was barred from entering the United States, primarily due to his relationship with Kadyrov, who’s long faced U.S. sanctions. In 2020, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Kadyrov’s fight club and MMA promotion — the first time a country had targeted his sports investments. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, OFAC stated that Kadyrov had “recruited for Russia’s war efforts through mixed martial arts clubs, enabling him and his units to continue their activity in Ukraine.” In response to the invasion, the State Department imposed visa restrictions on 910 Russians. While the list was never made public, sources close to the matter have suggested that Chimaev’s name was among those included.

Chimaev would have likely continued fighting in Abu Dhabi had Trump not won the 2024 presidential race. The U.S. President is a fan of the UFC, whose leadership and fighters helped him win back the White House. It comes as no surprise that Trump would put an end to Chimaev’s visa troubles as a favor to UFC CEO Dana White and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, his former agent.

In an interview with the BBC, the Chechen fighter credited Trump for his ability to return to the UFC. “Everyone knows I didn’t have the visa to [travel to] the US. That’s why I didn’t fight only once [but twice] in Abu Dhabi. So now Donald Trump is here, we go for a fight,” he explained.

The irony of the situation shouldn’t be lost on anyone: while Trump was busy deporting migrants (and some U.S. residents) through ICE raids, he sidestepped visa restrictions imposed by his own government to allow a UFC fighter representing a sanctioned dictator to compete on U.S. soil. It is yet another example of the textbook cronyism of the Trump administration—an era rooted in corporate favours and regulatory green lights for those willing to play along.

And though Chimaev publicly fawns over Kadyrov, it is impossible to know whether that loyalty is heartfelt or coerced. To many Chechen dissidents, Chimaev is a traitor—a fighter who sold his soul in exchange for a place in Kadyrov’s inner circle. He flaunts his newfound wealth on social media, regularly posing alongside his fleet of cars in the UAE. He boasts friendships with Kadyrov’s teenage sons, and even—according to reports from the Chechen dissident group NIYSO—recently took on a second wife in Chechnya, this time a 17-year-old girl who was reportedly forced into the marriage.

“According to sources, on January 11th, a wedding ceremony took place in the village of Elin-Yurt, during which a local woman was given to Chimaev as a wife,” read a portion of the report. “However, a few days before the celebration, the girl was kidnapped by Chimaev’s friends, as she had caught the fighter’s eye. The court gladiator immediately rushed to Kadyrov’s residence to seek advice from his padishah [Chechen for “king”]. In response, he instructed him to hold a wedding ceremony, but as secretly as possible.”

Despite reportedly kidnapping and marrying an underage woman—which is also illegal across the Russian Federation—and operating as a propagandist for a strongman who oppresses his people and purges the republic LGBTQ+ population, the UFC has no qualms with featuring Chimaev atop their fight cards. They promote him like a star and have gone out of their way to ensure that he continued to fight for the organization even when he was barred from entering the United States. To make matters worse, Chimaev’s upcoming title defence is against Sean Strickland, a former neo-Nazi who is among the UFC’s most bigoted and misogynistic fighters—and that’s truly saying something.

As for Chimaev, his story is no longer that of a fearless contender rising to greatness, but of a gifted fighter diminished into a warlord’s prized possession — a UFC champion who sold his soul to the Chechen strongman.

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

Get 60% off forever

FIFA President Gianni Infantino opened his speech at the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver on Thursday by announcing that Iran would play in the 2026 Men’s World Cup in the United States of America as planned, ignoring Iran’s request to move its matches to Mexico.

He explained why with a phrase he has used often since ascending to the presidency in 2016: “Football unites the world, FIFA unites the world. We unite the world.” More than 1,500 football officials sat under banners reading “Fair Play” and “Unite,” while the message echoed throughout the three-hour meeting.

“Welcome to a place where the world is not divided by borders, but united by purpose,” said Peter Augruso, president of Canada Soccer. Yet, the reality behind the theatre of unity was hard to ignore.

During the roll call confirming attendance of the 211 member associations, the announcer’s prompt, “Islamic Republic of Iran,” was met with silence. The only football association not present at the meeting after its federation president, Mehdi Taj — a former member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which Canada views as a terrorist entity — was detained and questioned in Toronto after arriving with an approved visa. The delegation chose to return to Iran, citing “unacceptable behaviour” and “political maneuvering” by immigration officials. The FIFA Secretary General sent an official letter to Taj, apologizing for Canada’s behaviour towards the Iranian delegation and inviting him to a meeting in Zurich this month.

The diplomatic row unfolded against the backdrop of an unresolved war. Talks between the US and Iran, mediated by Pakistan, have largely stalled with both sides unable to reach a resolution on key issues like Iran’s nuclear enrichment or US sanctions relief. This week, Iran submitted a 14-point response to a U.S. proposal, demanding that the war be ended in 30 days, sanctions lifted, and U.S. forces withdrawn from the region. Trump said he would review but “can’t imagine that it would be acceptable.”

Trump’s ire has extended to football, with a veiled threat posted back in March. “The Iran national soccer team is welcome to the World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.” Infantino’s announcement did not include how FIFA plans to address possible safety issues for Iran’s players, coaches and officials.

Concerns around human rights violations and discrimination surrounding the FIFA World Cup to be played in the US, Canada and Mexico are not limited to Iran. In the weeks leading up to Congress, a coalition of ten major human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the ACLU, and Reporters Without Borders, issued a cascade of reports documenting what they called a “human rights emergency” unfolding across host cities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested at least 167,000 people in and around the 11 US host cities in the first 50 days of the Trump administration.

Fans from four qualified nations, Haiti, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Iran, are banned from entering the US to watch their own countries play. LGBTQI+ supporters are saying it isn’t safe to be visibly present. And in Los Angeles, stadium workers are threatening to strike over federal agents being allowed inside venues.

“Despite the astounding numbers of arrests and deportations, neither FIFA nor the US authorities have provided any guarantees that fans and local communities will be safe from ethnic and racial profiling, indiscriminate raids, or unlawful detention and deportation,” said Steve Cockburn, head of economic and social justice at Amnesty International.

Infantino’s speech, like those of other FIFA officials, did not address the concerns or provide insight into how they will ensure the safety and protection of participants and attendees at the games. Instead, Infantino called for optimism and a focus on the positive.

“We have to be smiling, we have to be happy. There are enough problems around the world. There are enough people who try to divide all over the world. If nobody tries to unite, what will happen to our world?” said Infantino.

He made his own attempt at peacemaking by trying to stage a handshake between the delegates of the Palestine and Israel football associations after the representatives gave separate speeches addressing FIFA’s decision to take no action against Israeli settlement clubs.

Jibril Rajoub, the 72-year-old president of the Palestine Football Association (PFA), wearing a suit and a keffiyeh draped over his shoulders, called on FIFA to follow its own statutes.

“We do not ask FIFA to solve a political conflict. We ask FIFA to govern football,” said Rajoub.

The PFA’s 13-year battle to suspend Israel began in 2015, when it filed a motion citing FIFA’s statute prohibiting a member association from organizing football on the territory of another member association without permission. But at least six Israeli clubs based in illegal settlements in the West Bank have been competing in leagues organized by the Israel Football Association (IFA) without permission.

In 2017, FIFA’s own Monitoring Committee recommended that the IFA stop settlement clubs from operating within six months or face sanctions. But the FIFA Council, now under the newly elected Infantino, declined to implement the recommendations, stating FIFA “must remain neutral about political matters.”

After a second formal complaint by the PFA, which included a claim of discrimination, FIFA sanctioned IFA for “offensive behaviour, violations of fair play, discrimination and racist abuse”. It fined the association around $190,000 and required it to display a banner reading “Football Unites the World – No to Discrimination” for three home matches.

But FIFA declined to rule on settlement clubs, stating that the “question of the West Bank is unresolved and remains contested under international law,” despite the International Court of Justice ruling Israel’s presence in the occupied territories as illegal in 2024. Rajoub addressed this directly at the Congress. “Football’s unity cannot be built on selective enforcement,” he said.

The IFA, represented by Vice President Basim Sheikh Suliman, an Arab-Israeli, defended itself at the Congress. “The Israel FA has supported the existence of the Palestinian FA since day one, and we still have the same position; we are proud of our squads and their squads,” said Suliman. This was the first time an IFA official has been given a formal speaking slot at a congress to address this case.

Speaking in Arabic, he emphasized that Arabs were playing in mixed Israeli football clubs and urged members to contribute to projects and initiatives that would further this unity.

“In football, there is no politics. Everyone has a right to play and compete,” he said.

Soon after, Infantino invited both representatives to shake hands, but Rajoub refused. The awkward two-minute exchange in which Infantino attempted to convince Rajoub went viral, the opposite of the photo op Infantino intended. PFA had previously informed FIFA that Rajoub would not agree to a staged handshake before he was even invited on stage.

Rajoub, who spent 17 years in Israeli prisons, explained his decision, pointing out that the IFA representative was defending and “whitewashing” the Netanyahu government. “Why would I shake hands with a man who is representing a racist and fascist government? He is not an acceptable partner to me,” he said.

Despite FIFA’s insistence on staying out of politics, the contradictory actions of its president often complicate the objective. In December 2025, at the World Cup draw, Infantino gave FIFA’s inaugural peace prize to Trump, presenting him with a gold trophy, medal and a certificate reading, “This is your prize; this is your peace prize.”

At the time of the award, Trump had overseen the deportation of over 500,000 people, threatened to annex Greenland and Canada, and was actively backing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza that killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, including 724 athletes.

FairSquare, a UK-based NGO, called it “an egregious abuse of power” and filed an ethics complaint, saying that awarding a prize “to a sitting political leader is in and of itself a clear breach of FIFA’s duty of neutrality.” The Norwegian Football Association recently backed the claim, calling for the FIFA Peace Prize to be abolished.

“We don’t think it’s part of FIFA’s mandate to give such a prize,” said Lisa Klaveness, president of the NFA. “We think we have a Nobel institute that does that job independently already,” she added.

But what the episode really revealed was how Infantino sees himself: not as the administrator of a sporting body, but as a statesman operating at the same level as the men he courts. He was “personally invited by Trump” to the Gaza peace summit in Egypt. And attended the inaugural Board of Peace meeting wearing a red hat with “USA” and the numbers 45-47, symbolizing the two non-consecutive Trump presidencies. At the meeting, he signed a formal partnership committing USD $75 million in FIFA funds to develop a “complete football ecosystem” in the Gaza Strip.

“Today, FIFA has definitely become a respected, a trusted, a truly global organization, sitting at the top tables in every aspect, from United Nations agencies to G20 to the World Economic Forum to governments to the private sector,” said Infantino.

FIFA requested a motorcade for Infantino for the congress on par with the security provided to the US president or the Pope. Vancouver’s police said no.

While Vancouver’s police department might not view Infantino as head of state, his reign is seemingly set to continue, with his re-election bid next year announced at the end of the Congress – a process that, in itself, has drawn criticism from sports governance groups like Play The Game and Fair Square. FIFA controls billions in development funds distributed directly to all 211 member associations, which each get one vote in the presidential election. With Infantino effectively controlling the purse strings, critics have questioned FIFA’s ability to conduct fair elections. Over the last 10 years, FIFA budgets have ballooned, about 8 times more than in 2016 when Infantino first took over. The budget for FIFA’s current cycle is now projected to generate $14 billion in actual revenues, with the 2026 World Cup alone projected to generate $8.9 billion – the highest ever from a single tournament.

“All the revenues that we generate from the World Cup go back to you, go back to the entire world and finance football in all of your countries,” said Infantino towards the end of the address.

What he did not mention was that the tournament generating this revenue offers the most expensive tickets in World Cup history – starting from $60 to nearly $11,000 per match – with FIFA collecting a 30% commission on every resale. The last four tickets to the final game sold for $2.3 million each.

How this World Cup will go and what we can expect to see is best summed up by Infantino’s closing remarks.

“In conclusion, let me just say that more, actually, much, much more will come,” he said. Get ready,”

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

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In 2018, as Saudi Arabia prepared to invest billions in the world of sports, it embarked on a charm offensive in the United States.

Enlisting the services of Churchill Ripley Group—an international consultancy that touts “unique access to Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and the Middle East”—Saudi officials, including Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud and Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud, lobbied companies and senior executives to help advance the development of the kingdom’s rapidly expanding sports and entertainment sector.

According to the foreign registration documents, the Saudi officials went on to have conversations with the likes of the late Kobe Bryant regarding the “development of basketball in Saudi Arabia”; Sophie Goldschmidt, the former CEO of World Surf League, regarding the “development of the sport of surfing in Saudi Arabia”; the CEO of Thinkwell regarding the “development of a sports mall in Saudi Arabia”; Bing and Twitch about advancing esports in the kingdom; the NHL commissioner on developing floor hockey in Saudi; Madison Square Garden regarding the development of “stadium infrastructure”; and many more.

Given Saudi Arabia’s historical opposition to Western-influenced sports and entertainment, these developments signalled a notable shift in the ultra-conservative Islamic nation’s policies. Within a few short years, the kingdom would position itself as a global sports hub, hosting major events once thought unimaginable in the Gulf state. Saudi now owns a prominent English football club, its own golf league, and has lured some of the world’s biggest football stars, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, to its revamped domestic league. The kingdom also hosts the world’s richest horse race, a Formula 1 race, regular UFC events, marquee boxing showdowns, and will play host to the 2034 edition of the FIFA World Cup.

And though there was a time when Saudi’s ascension seemed inevitable, the US-Israel war on Iran, and the subsequent fallout in the Middle East, has jeopardized its ambitions and raised doubt about the kingdom’s future investments across sports.

It started in early March, when the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah was cancelled due to safety concerns amid incoming drone strikes from Iran. Similar cancelations took place in the neighbouring Gulf states of Qatar and Bahrain. AFC Champions League matches were also postponed due to wartime disruptions. Several other sports soon followed, suggesting that the cancellations may also have been driven by a strategic—and potentially desperate—scaling back of investments.

In late March, Bounces reported that the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is looking for a new host for its marquee year-end championship, the WTA Finals, following a three-year stint in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. Two weeks later, The Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund—the sovereign wealth fund chaired by Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and valued at nearly $1 trillion—was on the verge of cutting its support for LIV Golf. Despite the rumours of its imminent collapse, the golf league hosted an event in Mexico City, with officials later stating that the league is “full steam ahead” moving forward.

There have been other signs of change. Last year, the kingdom abandoned a 12-year deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host video gaming Esports Olympics in Riyadh. The kingdom also announced that the 2029 Asian Winter Games had also been postponed indefinitely in January 2026.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has forced a sharp reassessment of priorities across the region. Governments are increasingly reconsidering how and where resources are allocated, with security concerns rising to the forefront. Investments in air defence and military readiness now appear far more urgent than funding high-profile sporting ventures. This became even more apparent when the PIF announced its new five-year investment strategy on April 15, 2026.

“The 2026-2030 strategy marks a natural evolution as PIF moves from a period of rapid growth and acceleration to a new phase of sustained value creation,” read the press release, which added that the PIF will reprioritize its spending and narrow its focus to six “ecosystems,” one of which is “Tourism, Travel & Entertainment.“ `Sports was not one of the six areas listed in the PIF press release, even though it was combined with entertainment and leisure as one the 13 strategic sectors in the PIF 2021-2025 program.

Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, noted that privatization will be a core component of the wealth fund’s strategy moving forward. “The 2026-2030 strategy is a natural next step in PIF’s growth journey. It offers our partners more opportunities to invest in high-quality assets and ecosystems, alongside PIF,” al-Rumayyan said in the April 15 press release. The next day, the PIF announced it had sold a 70% stake in Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal to Kingdom Holding Company, the firm run by billionaire businessman and member of the Saudi royal family Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. Al Hilal was one of the four Saudi clubs that the kingdom had bought controlling interests less than three years ago.

While the PIF initially anticipated that there would be more foreign direct investment taking place in the kingdom by now, the vast majority of its privatization strategy is now targeting local investors and wealthy royal family members. During the Sports Investment Forum in riyadh this week, the Saudi Ministry of Investment revealed that it is developing and offering diverse investment opportunities, including projects related to sports infrastructure and preparations for hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup, and has invited the local private sector to submit proposals.

Basim Ibrahim, the Sport Sector Investment Development Director at the Saudi Ministry of Investment, claimed in an interview with Saudi state-funded Al Arabiya that the kingdom was still committed to hosting major sports event but that “we need all the partners in the sports sector to join us in this journey.”

And yet, it appears that the Saudi sports gold rush may finally be drying up. Most recently, Saudi ditched plans to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup, while uncertainty hangs over its wider ambitions in combat sports, gaming, and motorsport. What once looked like an unstoppable expansion is now a reminder that Western sports organizations, in their reckless pursuit of profit, staked their futures on a partner that never had to prove it could sustain the weight of what it was being asked to build.

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

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After opening the week by threatening annihilation — warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” in Iran if the country’s regime does not surrender to the U.S. — Donald Trump ended it in familiar territory: cageside at a UFC fight.

The U.S. president attended UFC 327 in Miami on Saturday evening with secretary of state Marco Rubio, US ambassador to India Sergio Gor, and several members of his family. It was Trump’s first appearance at a major sporting event since launching a war alongside Israel against Iran last month.

And yet, as Trump took in the fights at the Kaseya Center, his vice president JD Vance announced that the U.S. had failed to reach a deal with Iran to bring an end to the war following marathon negotiations in Pakistan. Vance blamed the failure on Iran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, adding that the breakdown in talks was “bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America.”

While the war decimated Iran’s political leadership and destroyed about a third of the country’s missile arsenal, Americans are also facing the grim reality of Trump’s war in Iran. With rising inflation and soaring gas prices to travel disruptions and market panic due to fear of a prolonged conflict, Americans are blaming Trump for dragging them into an unnecessary war.

In a poll released on April 1 by CNN/SSRS., Trump received his worst approval rating on the economy across both presidencies: 31%. His overall approval rating was 35%. Even the share of Republicans who strongly approve of his job performance has dropped to 43%, from 52% in January. Trump has also faced calls for impeachment from Democrats and some of his longtime supporters over his threat to commit genocide in Iran.

And yet, despite the difficult political circumstances, Trump still found time for his cagefighting constituency at the UFC. On Saturday night, Trump received a warm welcome from fight fans, albeit not as loud as past events. There was also a smattering of boos— a rarity at UFC events, especially in his adopted home state.

Trump has attended a total of four UFC events since being elected president for a second time in November 2024. He attended UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden less than two weeks following his electoral victory. He then appeared at UFC 314 in Miami in April 2025, where he made a pro wrestling-esque entrance to Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass” while enjoying a standing ovation from the raucous crowd in attendance. It was an elaborate display of propaganda from the UFC, which had mastered the spectacle of the Trump walkout.

At the time, Trump was also facing pressure and low approval ratings due after launching trade wars with several U.S. allies, including neighbouring Canada. Yet when the president was asked to gauge voter support for his controversial policies on Air Force One after the UFC show, he bragged about the “legendary” ovation he received during the fights.

“What did you think of the reaction?” he asked reporters aboard Air Force One on the way back Sunday morning. “It’s a great honor to have that kind of ovation. It says we’re doing a good job. If we weren’t doing a good job, we’d get the opposite.”

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Trump followed up by attending UFC 316 in June 2025, just hours after signing a memo ordering the deployment of 2,000 national guard troops to Los Angeles county after ICE immigration raids sparked mass protests. He nevertheless enjoyed a standing ovation from the fans in attendance, and glowing endorsements from the fighters, one of whom even kneeled before Trump. UFC champion Kayla Harrison embraced him, planted a kiss on his cheek and wrapped her championship belt around his waist.

This pattern is nothing new. For years, Trump has used UFC appearances to bolster his popularity and divert attention from controversies and criminal convictions. In the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection—which led to his second impeachment—he began reconnecting with the UFC as a way to seek political rehabilitation. In July 2021, seven months after leaving office, Trump attended UFC 264 in Las Vegas, where he was greeted by chants of “USA” from an enthusiastic crowd. A similar moment unfolded in 2024, when—just two days after being found guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush-money trial—he attended UFC 302 and received a hero’s welcome.

This relationship will reach a new, unprecedented stage in June when the UFC hosts its “Freedom250” event on the White House lawn to mark Trump’s 80th birthday. Trump called it the “hottest ticket that I’ve ever seen” with reports of lobbyists, mega donors and members of Congress clamouring to be part of the 5000 VIP seats on the south lawn of the White House. It “feels like people are willing to brawl to secure a seat!” Rob Lockwood, a former top aide to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, told Axios.

An advertisement for the White House event played in the arena during Saturday’s UFC show. “History is made by revolutionary ideas,” read the tagline at the end of the ad, which was clearly made using AI tool.

There is longstanding precedent for politicians using violent spectacles as potent symbols of their power. In ancient Rome, officials sponsored lavish games to drum up public support and advance their careers while emperors deployed them to distract, pacify and mold the masses in moments of crisis. The Roman satirist Juvenal referred to this panem et circenses—“bread and circuses”—whereby popular approval isn’t sought through good governance but by means of spectacle.

In many ways, the UFC has become Trump’s Colosseum—a spectacle of bloodsport and gratuitous violence that stands as the ultimate culmination of a partnership that was instrumental in Trump’s return to the White House. And even as Trump stands on the edge of ruin, facing a prolonged war and angry Americans at home, the UFC will always make him feel like a champion.

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently offering 60% off annual subscriptions to celebrate Sports Politika’s third anniversary. Don’t miss out!

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When I first decided to launch my own media platform three years ago, my life was in a very different place. I had just lost my longtime job as an investigative journalist for Bloody Elbow when VOX Media decided to shutter the site as part of its downsizing efforts. I was burning through my savings trying to stay afloat as a freelancer at a time when sports journalism as a whole was being made redundant. I made the front page of the New York Times with one of my biggest scoops, only to watch in shock as the paper of record shuttered its century-old sports section just two weeks later. It was a difficult, frustrating period with seemingly no end in sight.

Then came Sports Politika.

Upon launch, thousands of you subscribed and I quickly amassed enough paid subscribers to warrant the time and effort I planned to dedicate to the site. I became obsessed, building on years of research and a unique lived experience to establish the biggest platform dedicated solely to the intersection of sports, power and politics. This isn’t hyperbole—it is a fact.

Over the past three years, I have published nearly 400 articles—investigations, longforms, essays, personal reflections, and narrative podcasts—covering more than a dozen sports across five continents. I’ve covered everything from MMA to surfing, hockey to track and field, and chess to tennis, taking readers on a kaleidoscopic journey across strange lands and even stranger politics. I wrote about how the world’s “coolest dictator” wants you to surf in El Salvador, and the incredible tale of the Norwegian footballer who stole The Scream; I covered China’s fighting robots, the Hindu nationalists weaponizing yoga, and how misogynist and alleged sex trafficker Andrew Tate profits off Islam and MMA.

I investigated how Saudi Arabia bought Messi’s silence; the role of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in shaping the UAE’s national identity; how football emerged as a battleground between political aspirations and popular dreams in Morocco, and wrote at length about the football fans who shaped Egypt’s Jan. 25 revolution. I shed light on the outsized role that MMA plays in American politics, writing on topics such as how the UFC helped get Donald Trump elected, the MMA fighter who joined the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the rise of fascist fight clubs, the cagefighter who now runs ICE, and the propaganda spectacle known as the UFC White House event.

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It goes without saying that none of this reporting would have been possible without the generous support of my loyal subscribers. You’ve helped me establish my own independent space to continue to build on my work and, for that, I am eternally grateful. The newsletter has been cited in major outlets, academic articles, and on podcasts. I have also represented the outlet as major conferences around the world, as well as a guest lecturer at colleges such as the University of Michigan, the University of British Columbia, among others.

The revenue generated from this newsletter has also allowed me to achieve one of my major goals when starting this venture: paying guest writers to tell compelling and important stories that would otherwise never find a home—stories like this look inside the Saudi-backed lobbying effort to reshape boxing; a day in the life of a footballer in Gaza; and this story about how Ultimate Frisbee players are mounting protests against Israel’s participation, bolstered by IDF soldiers on the roster. These stories are only possible with your support.

And yet, 2026 has been an especially difficult year for Sports Politika. The site has lost more than 50 paid subscribers since the start of the year—an unprecedented rate that speaks volumes about the state of the world at the moment. From rising inflation and stagnant wages to economic instability as a result of lopsided tariffs and ongoing wars, times are tough for most people. Several of you who did cancel paid subscriptions included notes about how you had recently been laid off or were struggling to make ends meet. Others complained that I wasn’t publishing enough articles to make it worth the cost. Fair enough; I’ve been focused on completing the manuscript of my debut book and haven’t been publishing more than once a week. For some, that isn’t worth the $5, and that’s fine. Those of you who remained, however, are the reason this site is still alive.

With that being said, I have no plans to shutter Sports Politika. In fact, I intend to double down over the coming months. Expect a new narrative podcast series in May 2026, more guest contributions, wall-to-wall coverage of the 2026 World Cup, investigative reporting, and exclusive content from my new book.

In order to achieve this, I must call on you, my able-and-willing subscribers, to continue supporting this unique platform, especially at a time when sports have become a cornerstone of statecraft and authoritarian ambitions. Unlike other more established outlets, Sports Politika is entirely independent; no government grants, no billionaire backers—just a contingent of concerned sports fans with a couple of dollars to spare.

To sweeten the deal, I am offering a lifetime 60% discount on annual subscriptions, which means that subscribers will gain full access to Sports Politika for a little more than $2/per month. The offer is limited to 20 subscribers so make sure to secure your spot!

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Running Sports Politika has been one of the great joys of my professional career. After years of working for other organizations, it’s been deeply cathartic to build something that’s entirely my own, supported by subscribers who genuinely care about the work.

Here’s to the next three years.

-Karim

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by joining becoming a paid subscriber.

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A few days ago, I received an email informing me that I had won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award for my debut book, In the Shadow of the Cage.

The prestigious award, co-administered by Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, honors the best in American nonfiction book writing. The winners were chosen from 473 entries and selected by three teams of judges from across journalism, publishing, and academia.

Simply getting shortlisted for this award was a major achievement—one that I proudly shared with you all last month. I didn’t, however, expect to win. The competition was stiff and the other nominees were worthy selections authoring important works. I had come to view myself as a perennial runner up; someone recognized among top contenders but who always seems to stumble at the final hurdle. I was nominated for four consecutive MMA Journalist of the Year awards but lost it to the same person each year. Other nominations met similar fates.

Then came the email announcing I had won an award for the book I have poured my heart and soul into for the past year; pure, unrelenting joy. It wasn’t just because the judges—whom I had granted access to the drafts of several completed chapters—had recognized the book’s potential, they had recognized the importance of the work I had spent the past decade of my life shedding light on.

You can read the full announcement here but I wanted to highlight what the judges had to say:

In the Shadow of the Cage will be a vital and stylish work of reportage and memoir about mixed martial arts (MMA) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), especially in the age of Trump, whose alliance with UFC has helped mainstream, in Zidan's words, a ”brand of aggressive nationalism and anti-establishment rhetoric that has since bled into broader American politics.” Zidan’s work is an indispensable guide to a sport and culture not well known outside its fanbase, but which has, as his journalism has shown, links to neo-Nazis, Gulf autocrats, gendered propaganda, and much more. With deep sourcing and narrative command, Zidan’s story traces UFC from its outlaw origins—once denounced as ”human cockfighting” by Senator John McCain—to its emergence as a cultural arm of the MAGA movement, with its politics of dominance, spectacle, and grievance. He has a gift for illustrating these sweeping themes with intimate human stories, from a former UFC champion turned QAnon-peddling city councilman to the fighters who cheered Trump even while their own labor rights were gutted. Zidan, an award-winning, Cairo-born journalist, has reported on this beat for over a decade, despite bans, death threats, and the hostility of powerful institutions—demonstrating the same defiant persistence as the fighters he covers. The Lukas Prize will help him complete his ambitious reporting, which spans Russia, the Middle East, and the United States, all the way to the White House.

Writing this book has been one of the most challenging experiences of my professional career. And while I know there will be many more difficult days ahead, today—today is a good day.

Here’s to many more.

Sports Politika is a media platform dedicated to the intersection of sports, power and politics. If you like what you see, upgrade to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by becoming a paid subscriber.

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When Donald Trump first announced that the White House would host a UFC event to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary, the US president told supporters it would be a “big deal”. Evidence over the last week suggests that, not for the first time, Trump may be exaggerating a little.

Trump has promised a spectacle unlike anything the UFC has staged before. “They’re going to have eight or nine championship fights – the biggest fights they’ve ever had,” Trump said in December of plans for the White House event. “Every one is a championship fight, and every one is a legendary type of fight.”

The UFC was just as bullish, with CEO Dana White promising “the greatest fight card ever assembled”; a “one-of-one incredible opportunity” to put on the “baddest card of all time”. The hype surrounding the event feels even more obnoxious when you consider that it is being held in honor of a president whose administration has overseen a brutal immigration crackdown during which two US citizens were killed, alienated many of its former allies and engaged in dubious military actions abroad

It appears that the hype is also as unjustified as it is obnoxious. When the UFC finally announced the fight card for the event last week, it fell short of Trump and White’s boasts. Instead of the “eight or nine” title fights promised by Trump, the event will feature exactly two: a lightweight championship fight between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje in the main event, and an interim heavyweight title fight between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane. The four remaining primetime fights will feature a handful of fighters who are vocal Trump supporters such as Michael Chandler, who will face Brazilian fighter Mauricio Ruffy, and Bo Nickal, who will challenge Kyle Daukaus.

The lineup, to put it mildly, was not well received. Many fans lamented the missed opportunities to include veteran UFC stars such as Conor McGregor and Jon Jones. Even former UFC champion Ronda Rousey – once fiercely loyal to White and the UFC – admitted that “UFC’s White House card sucks”. But perhaps it was former UFC fighter Tom Lawlor who summed it up best when he tweeted: “LOL THATS IT?”

Lawlor has a point. The UFC White House event – which the organization dubbed “UFC Freedom 250” despite being timed to coincide with Trump’s 80th birthday on 14 June – can hardly be considered one of the best MMA fight cards of all time. That is not to suggest that it doesn’t have the potential to be exciting; it is just that there is very little to distinguish it from any other recent UFC event.

The blame falls squarely on White and the UFC, who fueled Trump’s hyperbole surrounding the event and allowed fans to dream. But the disappointment is also a testament to something more poignant: the UFC has become a victim of its own success.

Since purchasing the UFC in 2016, Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor has approached the UFC less as a traditional sports league and more as a scalable media property. In 2005, the year the UFC signed its first broadcast deal with Spike TV, the UFC staged just 10 events. Each felt consequential – a showcase stacked with recognizable names and fights that captured the imagination. By 2009, when I began watching the sport, that number had doubled to 20 events annually – no longer rare, but still appointment viewing. As the UFC continued to grow exponentially over the following decade, the schedule more than doubled again, ushering in an era of relentless volume. Watching UFC events no longer felt like an occasion, but an obligation.

As one fight fan wisely commented in a social media post complaining about the UFC White House card: “UFC peaked 2007-2016.”

In August 2025, the UFC signed a seven-year deal with Paramount valued at about $7.7bn. The deal moved the UFC’s marquee events away from the pay-per-view model that had sustained the organization since its inception. Instead, Paramount’s direct-to-consumer streaming platform, Paramount+, would air 13 marquee numbered events and 30 Fight Nights for a total of 43 UFC shows in 2026. And though White sold the deal as “incredible for UFC fans and our athletes” in the official press release, the truth is that it seemingly ended the UFC’s desire to assemble blockbuster events, since the promotion is no longer trying to sell individual pay-per-view cards.

The UFC White House card is just one of the 43 events that the organization is obligated to produce in 2026. Instead of exhausting its resources to appease Trump’s whims, the UFC took the sensible – albeit disappointing – decision not to place all its eggs in one basket. The UFC White House card is also expected to cost upwards of $60m, with the organization expecting to recoup at least half that sum through sponsorships. This has likely factored into the UFC’s decision not to add to its hefty bill by including marquee names like Jones or McGregor, the former claiming he was “lowballed” by the UFC when negotiating to be on the White House fight card. White, in turn insisted that the UFC had no intention of featuring the former two-division champion on the show. It is not as though the organization had a shortage of (cheaper) options outside of Jones. “Everybody wants to fight on this card,” White said last year. “Literally everybody.”

The irony, of course, is that the UFC White House card is supposed to be more than just another UFC event. It is the Trump show – a one-of-a-kind spectacle on the South Lawn of the White House, held both to commemorate America’s birthday, and his own. The UFC spent the better part of the last decade laundering Trump as the quintessential fighter. White maintains a close friendship with Trump and has stumped for him across three presidential campaigns. He has also credited himself with convincing Trump to pivot to podcasts during the 2024 campaign, a decision that helped the president win over undecided young male voters.

As I wrote in an article in the Guardian nearly six years ago, the UFC is the sports arm of Trump’s Maga regime. It helped put Trump back in the White House and remains a platform for his loyal base of supporters. The UFC White House event is the culmination of that union: a night of authoritarian theatre for a president whose second-term politics – from terrorizing immigrants to dropping bombs across three continents – boils down to a single governing principle: might is right.

It’s just too bad the fights themselves won’t be worth the price of admission.

First published in The Guardian.

Sports Politika is a media platform focusing on intersection of sports, power and politics. Support independent journalism by upgrading to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. My mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting my work by becoming a paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

In the months since I announced I was writing a book about mixed martial arts and strongman politics, U.S. President Donald Trump has gone out of his way to prove my premise.

It began shortly after I signed my deal with Simon & Schuster: Trump announced plans for the UFC to host an event at the White House to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, as well as his 80th birthday. “Trump’s UFC stunt is more than a circus. It’s authoritarian theatre,” I wrote in a piece for The Guardian at the time.

Then came the announcement this week that Trump had tapped Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin, a former pro MMA fighter, to replace Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security. In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised Mullin’s both his political and his fighting acumen.

“A MAGA Warrior, and former undefeated professional MMA fighter, Markwayne truly gets along well with people, and knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Advance our America First Agenda,” Trump wrote.

A member of the Cherokee Nation, Mullin ran several family companies and hosted a home improvement radio program that was syndicated across Oklahoma before pivoting to politics. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, where he represented eastern Oklahoma for a decade as a Republican before becoming a junior senator in 2022.

Mullin also wrestled in college and is officially 3–0 in MMA, though he has claimed a 5–0 record. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016. The following year, while serving as a congressman, Mullin proposed legislation that would force the UFC to share financial information with fighters and create an independent ranking system that would offer fighters greater leverage when negotiating with the organization. The UFC fiercely opposed the bill, called the Muhammad Ali Expansion Act, and reportedly spent upwards of $100,000 lobbying against it. “I wish the UFC would use that money to pay their fighters instead of lobbying against them,” Mullin said at the time.

Despite enjoying bipartisan support, the bill ultimately failed to pass. However, even if the bill did make it through the Democrat-controlled House of Representative and a Republican-led Senate at the time, the prevailing view was that the bill would likely get vetoed by Trump as a favour to the UFC and his personal friend Dana White. Mullin promised to reintroduce the legislation in the Senate in 2023, during Joe Biden’s presidency, but never moved forward with the plan.

Despite his failure to pass the reform, Mullin never quite distanced himself from his reputation as a fighter. He was known for his intense “MMA-style workouts” in Congress and was one of two congressmen who confronted rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection and assisted officers with barricading the doors to the House floor. He also witnessed a U.S. Capitol police officer shoot the infamous pro-Trump rioter Ashli Babbit as she tried to breach the Capitol through a window. He later defended the officer who killed Babbit, arguing that “there was a lot of members and staff that were in danger at the time” and that the officer’s actions “saved people’s lives.”

During a 2023 Senate hearing, Mullin challenged a witness, Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien, to a fight. After some back-and-forth comments about their past social media exchanges, Mullin told O’Brien, “If you want to run your mouth ... we can finish it here.”

O’Brien: “OK, that’s fine, perfect.”

Mullin: “You want to do it now?”

O’Brien: “I’d love to do it now.”

Mullin: “Well stand your butt up, then.”

O’Brien: “You stand your butt up, big guy,”

Mullin stood up and appeared ready to remove his wedding ring to throw a punch only to be restrained by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“Sit down, you’re a United States senator,” Sanders told him. “This is a hearing and God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress.”

After later challenging O’Brien to a charity MMA fight that never took place, Mullin and the Teamster boss appear to have squashed their beef. In a statement to the New York Times following Mullin’s nomination, O’Brien said in reference to their tense Senate interaction: “If anyone is willing to stand their butt up to protect America, it’s Markwayne Mullin.”

Mullin isn’t guaranteed to become the next DHS secretary. He still needs to go through a Senate confirmation hearing, though he is unlikely to face many obstacles with a Republican majority. If he succeeds, Mullin’s rise—from former MMA fighter to one of the country’s most powerful politicians, overseeing border control, counterterrorism, and immigration enforcement—would would say a great deal about the kind of figures who flourish in Trump’s America.

Mullin is currently the only sitting senator without a college Bachelor’s degree and has almost no experience in the department he is expected to lead. And yet, he says he and Trump “have a really good relationship” and “talk all the time.” He is also a full-throated supporter of Trump’s policies, including his embattled immigration policies. He would regularly defend the president on cable news, which earned him the “MAGA warrior” title from Trump.

When Trump announced the UFC White House show, Mullin appeared on cable TV to discuss the genius behind the event, despite once opposing the UFC’s exploitative labour practices.

“The American people love it,” Mullin told FOX Across America. “This is what they like about him, right? He’s just one of them, but yet he’s president of the United States.”

It’s a reminder that, in Trump’s America, it helps to know when to throw a punch…and when to kiss the ring.

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When FIFA president Gianni Infantino handed U.S. President Donald Trump the organization’s inaugural — and conspicuously improvised — “FIFA Peace Prize” during the official World Cup draw in December 2025, he justified the honour as recognition of Trump’s “unwavering commitment to advancing peace and unity throughout the world.”

It was an absurd scene: a global sports body anointing a sitting president as a harbinger of peace, beneath the bright lights of a tournament built on spectacle. FIFA offered no details about the selection process or its exact criteria. Instead, Infantino made vague statements about hope, unity, and the future.

“You definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action, for what you have obtained in your way, but you have obtained it in an incredible way,” infantino said. “You can always count, Mr President, on my support, on the support of the entire football community – or “soccer” community – to help you make peace and make the world prosper all over the world.”

In the two months since Infantino’s declaration, the US has launched airstrikes on Venezuela and captured the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro. Trump also threatened to invade Greenland, saying the US is “going to do something [there] whether they like it or not”. Then, on Saturday Feb. 28, the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, hitting more than 500 targets in the “largest military air raid in the history of the Israeli Air Force.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among Israel’s targets. The radical cleric was reportedly killed in an Israeli strike on his Tehran compound, along with several members of his family. The Iranian Red Crescent also reported that at least 201 people were killed and 747 wounded in Saturday’s strikes. This includes U.S. strikes on two elementary girls’ schools, killing more than 80 people. Iran has since retaliated with airstrikes of its own targeting Israeli cities and several neighbouring countries where US forces are stationed, including Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

In the wake of the strikes, FIFA said it will “monitor developments” in Iran, which is among the 48 teams that have qualified for the 2026 World Cup. Iran is assigned to play in Group C along with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand. Seattle will host Iran vs. Egypt while Iran’s other two group stage games will be played in Los Angeles.

“We will continue to communicate as we always do with three [host] governments as we always do in any case,” said FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom. Everybody will be safe.”

Despite the fact that Trump has now launched military operations in three continents since the start of his second term in office, the US President has long claimed to be the anti-war president. He campaigned on his “record of no new wars” and promised to end America’s interventionist foreign policy. On Trump’s re-election night in November 2024, he had told supporters he was “not going to start a war, I’m going to stop wars.”

Over the past few months, Trump has been obsessed with winning the Nobel Peace Prize, lobbying aggressively for the prize after claiming to have stopped multiple conflicts. When Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado was awarded the prize in 2025, Trump expressed displeasure at the decision. When the US captured Maduro and charged him in a drug trafficking case, Machado gifted her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump.

Aware that Trump had been snubbed of his peace prize legacy, FIFA rushed to create its own prize to appease the president. And when the organization faced criticism for its decision, FIFA defended its actions by pointing to Machado’s choice to bestow Trump with her medal.

Nevertheless, FIFA isn’t the only sports organization that helped sell the image of Trump as the “peace president.” The UFC has spent the better part of the last decade laundering Trump as the quintessential fighter. UFC President Dana White maintains a close friendship with the president and has stumped for him across three presidential campaigns. During his speeches at the Republican National Convention, White reinforced the narrative of Trump as a “fighter,” saying he is the “toughest, most resilient human being I’ve ever met.”

The UFC helped put Trump back in the White House and remains a platform for his loyal base of supporters. Trump frequently attended UFC events, basking in the admiration of the young, predominantly male crowd. He cultivated relationships with fighters, leveraging their support to portray himself as a symbolic strongman. And he is even leveraging the UFC to stage the biggest example of sports propaganda in American history: a UFC event at the White House.

Initially conceived to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States in July 2026, the event was reportedly rescheduled to June for logistical reasons. According to Trump, it is now expected to take place on June 14, coinciding with his birthday and fuelling perceptions that the celebration is as much about him personally as it is about American nationalism.

In an article for The Guardian last year, I called the event “authoritarian theatre,” with “shades of fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini, particularly its obsession with masculinity, spectacle and nationalism – but with a modern, American twist.”

From the article: “Since Trump returned to office in January, his presidency has been marked by a purge of federal agencies, crackdowns on dissent and immigration, and hollowing out institutions once designed as guardrails against abuses in presidential power. Loyalty to Trump, rather than the constitution and the American people, has become the primary litmus test for political advancement. Meanwhile, sports have emerged as a central feature of his administration, advancing his policies while projecting a cult of personality and the celebration of violence. All of these are the hallmarks of authoritarianism.”

Trump’s warmongering efforts mark the latest escalation in his creeping authoritarianism. According to Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, only Congress has the power “to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.” This is prevent a president from having the unchecked power to launch wars that do not serve their nation. Nevertheless, Trump launched a regime change campaign in Iran without Congressional approval, and in blatant violation of international law (for whatever that is worth, these days).

Even George W. Bush and his cabinet of war criminals, who justified the 2003 invasion of Iraq by lying about Saddam Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction, sought congressional authorization before the invasion. Trump, however, doesn’t even care to present the illusion of democratic process.

Speaking of Iraq, history has made one lesson painfully clear: foreign intervention breeds instability far more often than it delivers freedom. Bombs do not bring salvation; they leave behind devastation, scorching the very soil where democracy might have taken root. Yet Trump and his allies in FIFA and the UFC would have you believe that peace is forged through displays of strength.

“America needs a strong leader, and I think the world needs a strong America…I just want to bring common sense back. Want some peace in the world,” White told TIME Magazine ahead of Trump’s reelection. “And I truly believe, friendship aside, that Donald Trump can fix a lot of the issues that are out there right now.”

Sports Politika is a media platform focusing on intersection of sports, power and politics. Support independent journalism by upgrading to a paid subscription ( or gift a subscription if you already have your own). We would appreciate if you could also like the post and let us know what you think in the comment section below.