ExclusiveMiddle East: "The whole Gulf views sport as an advantage and an asset" (Jean-Baptiste Guégan)

"The whole Gulf now regards sport as an advantage and an asset. The Persian Gulf has been the place where new sports soft power strategies have been emerging for several years. More than China, Turkey or the United States, the peninsula shows us how to use and instrumentalize sport for other purposes," said Jean-Baptiste Guégan, professor and author of several books on the geo-politics of sport and the economy of football, to News Tank Football on 03/08/2020.

The Kingdom of Bahrain became the primary sponsor of Paris FC (Ligue 2 BKT) and took a 20% stake of its capital on 27/07/2020. "This minority position is already part of a medium-term economic logic, with the objective of returning to Ligue 1 and becoming the second Parisian football club. One can imagine that there are other reasons for this position taken by the sovereign wealth fund, which relate to the political and economic interests shared with the president of the club (Pierre Ferracci)," added Guégan.

Qatar sent a letter to the IOC indicating its intention to join the "continuous dialogue" on the organization of the…