e-Think Sport 2021: "He who has sporting power is popular everywhere" (Pascal Boniface, IRIS)

"Soft power is a way of being popular while hard power creates resistance, sometimes even hatred against the one who has it. The one who has sporting power is popular everywhere. The Brazilian regime was not popular when it was a military regime, but its football team was popular. If you are beaten by a sports superpower you are still in awe, whereas if you are defeated by a military superpower, there will be negative resentments," stated Pascal Boniface, geo-political analyst, founder and director of IRIS (French geo-political think tank), during e-Think Sport 2021, on 27/01/2021.

"Who knew about Qatar before it bought Paris Saint-Germain or obtained the organization of the 2022 FIFA World Cup? Not many people. Saudi Arabia is criticized on many points, and now it organizes sports competitions to try to convey a positive image of one's country because sport unites much more than geopolitics," said Pascal Boniface.

This keynote was on the "Leagues and Federations" morning of e-Think Sport 2021, the fifth edition of the annual event usually organized face-to-face in Paris (FRA) over…