This is an announcement which, for many, has nothing trivial: Qatar reaffirms its desire to apply to host the summer Olympic Games in 2036. For skeptics, it is only a new demonstration of the desire for power of an ultra -licate micro-state that tries to buy its international recognition with billions.
But for those who have been following the sports diplomacy of the Gulf petromonarchies for years, it is on the contrary a logical, almost inevitable suite, of a strategy of visibility and influence matured. Sport has become the master card of a regional soft power which, much more than entertainment or a princely whim, today shapes the geopolitical balances of the Middle East. All countries in the region are getting into it.
Because for two decades, I have had the opportunity to write it repeatedly: the Gulf States, starting with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, understood that in a post-cold cold world, influence is no longer won only by weapons or classic diplomacy, but by the ability to capture world attention. You have to attract the world to yourself. However, what better vector than sport to exist on the international scene, improve its image, reassure investors, and legitimize a power often disputed indoors or in terms of human rights? In this logic, major sporting events have become the new instruments of soft power.
Qatar did not wait 2022 to embark on this race for recognition. Since the 2000s, Doha has positioned itself as a global sports capital: world athletics championship, Asian games, Handball World Cup, Tennis and Golf Tournament of international renown … Each event is a brick placed in a patient prestigious acquisition strategy. But the Football World Cup in 2022 was a turning point. By succeeding in organizing – not without criticism but with undeniable logistical efficiency – the largest planetary sporting event, Qatar has struck a big blow. He showed that a small desert state could host, secure and manage a global event. It is this success that Doha wants to extend today with the Olympic Games.
Qatar did not wait 2022 to embark on this race for recognition
This ambition should not be read as an isolated initiative, but as an extension of a model specific to the Gulf. Petromonarchies have understood that sports competitions allow them to buy political time, to anchor their economic development in post-pétrole diversification, and to modify the media narrative that sticks to their skin. The air conditioned stadiums of Qatar, the F1 circuits of Djeddah or Bahrain, the clubs bought in Europe, boxing or judo tournaments financed with millions: all this composes a sports diplomacy of influence, thought as an answer to the historical marginalization of the Arab world on the international scene.
But Doha, unlike other neighbors, plays a slightly more subtle card. If Saudi Arabia advances with futuristic megaprojets and massive investment in business sport, Qatar capitalizes on its experience, its constancy and its more discreet approach. In this sense, the Olympic Games 2036 would not be a whim but the culmination of a logic. It would not only be a sports victory, but a geopolitical consecration. After the World Cup, the games: for Qatar, the loop would be almost completed.
And it is not only a communication strategy: Qatar uses sport as a diplomatic lever to consolidate alliances, mitigate tensions and position itself as a global interlocutor. We have recently seen him in the Israeli-Palestinian file, where Doha, far from being satisfied with his image of mediator emirate, has established himself as a key player in negotiations for the release of hostages. It is this double positioning – both a global sports showcase and weight actor of weights – which distinguishes Doha in a competitive gulf.
It remains to be seen whether the IOC, after the global debate aroused by holding the World Cup in the Gulf, will dare to take this step. But one thing is certain: to ignore the candidacy of Qatar is to ignore the deep transformation of the relationship between sport and geopolitics. And that, we can no longer allow ourselves.
* Sébastien Boussois is a doctor of political science, Arab and geopolitical world researcher, teacher in international relations at the IHECS (Brussels), partner of the CNAM Paris (Defense Security Team), at the Institute of Applied Geopolitics Studies (IEGA Paris), to the Nordic Center for Conflict Transformation (NCCT Stockholm) and at the Geostrategic Observatory in Geneva (Switzerland).
