James M. Dorsey Iran recently scored not one but two soccer successes. Fans celebrated after the country’s national team qualified for...

By James M. Dorsey A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts,...

By James M. Dorsey A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr Mounting...

By James M. Dorsey A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr. With the 2018 World Cup in...

By James M. Dorsey A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr. Saudi sports diplomacy is...

By James M. Dorsey A possible Saudi-Iranian clash on the soccer pitch promises to be a highlight of this month’s World Cup in Russia. It...

By James M. Dorsey Saudi Arabia’s bitter rivalry with Iran has spilled onto Asian soccer pitches with the newly created South West Asian...

By James M. Dorsey International soccer bodies, in violation of their own bylaws, have ignored the blatant mixing of sports and politics...

By James M. Dorsey The Gulf crisis that has pitted World Cup host Qatar against a United Arab Emirates-Saudi Arabia-led alliance for the...

By James M. Dorsey The crisis in the Gulf that pits Qatar against a UAE-Saudi-led alliance is Qatar’s least problem when it comes to the...

Stick to Sports? No Thanks. From: Press Row Sports, #collegebball, #nba, #nfl, #pressrowphm, #sports Another week of sports headlines off...

Tackling the elephant in the room: the incestuous and inseparable relationship between sports and politics Photo: seanknoflick/Flickr...

By James M. Dorsey Qatar won more than a symbolic victory with a decision by European soccer body UEFA to award controversial television...

(JMD interviewed on ABC) Sheikh Amhad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah quits after being implicated in FIFA bribery, corruption probe By Tracey Holmes...

By James M. Dorsey For Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, long seen as one of the three most powerful men in international sports,...

Remarks at 2016 Exeter Gulf Conference Global soccer and global sports governance have for the past nine years and certainly since a...

By James M. Dorsey Over the past decade, religiosity and religious intolerance have seeped into national sports teams in Pakistan and...

By James M. Dorsey (Lecture at MEI Conference: The Middle East Peace Process After the Arab Uprisings) When Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s...

...of close relationship between football and politics in the Middle East (JMD at UCFB) It’s hard to think of anywhere in the world with...

By James M. Dorsey Two recent incidents involving the refusal of Arab teams to play their Palestinian counterparts on Palestinian soil...