Op-Ed May 9, 2025 Why is Saudi Arabia at the Gold Cup? It’s the latest in the Kingdom’s soft power campaign Last month, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) held an official draw in Miami, Florida for the 2025 Gold Cup, the premier biennial tournament for men’s football on the continent.
Op-Ed Mar 19, 2025 Kirsty Coventry—the Soft Face of Zimbabwe’s Dictatorship—Could Be the Next President of the IOC | Opinion The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is set to select a new president this week to succeed Thomas Bach. In a field of seven candidates, Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, Africa’s most decorated Olympian, could make history as the first woman to head the IOC.
Blog Post Mar 11, 2025 The Playbook: How Syria’s brutal Assad regime used football to maintain power Welcome to The Playbook, an explainer series from HRF’s Sports & Dictators program that explores the intersection of sports and politics in authoritarian regimes and decodes the disturbing narratives behind the games we love.
Blog Post Feb 10, 2025 The Playbook: How Saudi Arabia uses tennis to present a facade of women’s reforms When Saudi Arabia hosted one of the most important events in professional women’s tennis, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals, in November, it wasn’t, of course, without controversy. The New York Times put it this way:
Blog Post Oct 18, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 4: Soviet Sports propaganda When Tsar Peter I — better known as Peter the Great — visited England in 1689, he arranged what has been called the “first international boxing match” in the garden of the nobleman’s home.
Blog Post Sep 6, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 3: Post-WWII Soft Power Long before the inception of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, sports have been used to distract the masses, test foreign policies, thaw diplomatic tensions, and broadcast political and social messaging.
Publication Aug 27, 2024 US senators call out NBA’s relationship with Rwanda dictator Paul Kagame: ‘Putting profit over principle’ Two United States senators have accused the NBA of “putting profit over principle,” which was detailed in a letter sent to commissioner Adam Silver…
Publication Aug 27, 2024 Oregon Sen. Merkley raises concerns over reported NBA ties to Rwandan dictatorship Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley sent a letter to National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday, raising concerns over the organization’s reported ties to dictators.
Publication Aug 27, 2024 NBA under fire: U.S. Senators slam league’s ties to controversial Rwandan leader The NBA finds itself in the hot seat once again, but this time, it’s not over a controversial call or a player feud-it’s a matter of global ethics.
Blog Post Aug 9, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 2: The Rise of Fascism Long before the inception of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, sports have been used to distract the masses, test foreign policies, thaw diplomatic tensions, and broadcast political and social messaging.
Op-Ed Jul 19, 2024 Authoritarian Qatar puts 2,000 cops and armoured cars on the streets of Paris Two weeks before the Olympic Games are set to kick off in Paris, Qatari security forces, equipped with armoured vehicles and urban camouflage livery, arrived in the French capital to help “secure” the global event.
Publication May 17, 2024 Bad Business In my Impromptus today, I have some sports — starting with Simone Biles — and some presidential politics — a lot of that — and some language — the shape-shifting of English — and other matters. Try it here.
Blog Post Feb 9, 2024 A History of Sports and Dictators, Part 1: From Ramses II to Rome’s Bread & Circuses In the Olympic Games of 416, Athenian statesman and military general Alcibiades fielded seven teams in one of the most prestigious Olympic events, the four-horse chariot race known as the quadriga.
Blog Post Jan 12, 2024 Fueling Ambition: Aramco’s pivotal role in Saudi Arabia’s sports expansion In November 2023, news broke that Aramco—Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil and energy giant—was set to complete a “significant sponsorship” deal with FIFA that would make it the football governing body’s biggest sponsor over the coming decade.
Publication Aug 4, 2015 Lionel Messi accused of undermining children’s rights work with Gabon visit US-based group says Barcelona striker displayed ‘enthusiastic support for dictatorship that has refused to investigate ritual murders
Publication Aug 3, 2015 Lionel Messi Slammed for ‘Partying with Oppressors’ by Human Rights Foundation The Human Rights Foundation has issued a scathing attack on Lionel Messi in the wake of his recent visit to Gabon, accusing the Barcelona icon of “partying with oppressors.”
Publication Aug 3, 2015 Lionel Messi criticised by Human Rights Foundation for Gabon trip HRF condemns Barcelona star’s trip to Gabon amidst allegations of child murder and organ harvesting
Publication Aug 3, 2015 Lionel Messi accused of endorsing Gabon ‘dictatorship’ with visit to 2017 Africa Cup of Nations venue Barcelona striker Lionel Messi accused by activists of showing ‘enthusiastic support’ for central African country that failed to halt ritual murder of children.
