The Sport and Politics Research International Network (SPRING) invites submissions for its fourth international conference, to be hosted at the Huston School of Film & Digital Media, University of Galway on 1–2 July 2027. This conference will examine the dynamic interplay between sport and identity across regional, national, and global contexts. We welcome contributions from scholars across disciplines, including (but not limited to) media and communication studies, film studies, sociology, political science, history, anthropology, and cultural studies.

This symposium examines African derbies from a renewed perspective offered by the social sciences and humanities of politics. From Cairo to Soweto, via Yaoundé, Casablanca, Accra, Dar Es Salaam and Algiers, the rivalries between African clubs, rooted in time and space, can legitimately be the subject of renewed scientific discourse similar to that produced on other European, American or Asian derbies, in an era of global sportocracy that is expanding and deepening football. A three-pronged scientific effort is presiding over this heuristic renewal around African derbies.

After the United States men’s national soccer team was defeated by the Belgian squad during World Cup 2026, it was reported that a spokesman for the Iranian team was quoted as saying, “Now the whole world is dancing to celebrate politics’ humiliating defeat by football.” The Iranian representative was ostensibly referring to President Donald Trump’s intervention regarding the red card issued against Folarin Balogun, and indeed politics has been at the forefront during the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. Kevin Anzzolin reflects on this fact in his thought-provoking feature article.

This special issue aims to reflect on the central preoccupation of McFee’s work, namely, the contextual understanding of sport and the implications of that for our ability to dissolve philosophical puzzlement as it arises in relation to matters in sport, or perhaps even sometimes elsewhere in philosophy. We encourage submissions that reflect on, and elaborateon, McFee’s work in relation to sport, or investigations of matters not considered by McFee that apply his methods in new contexts. We encourage submissions that employ insights and methods from McFee’s work in new contexts.

This special issue of SMEJ invites scholarly and applied contributions examining how AI is being integrated into sport management education across undergraduate, graduate, and professional contexts. We seek manuscripts that advance evidence-based pedagogy, document innovative instructional practices, and critically assess the ethical, workforce, and equity implications of AI adoption in sport management education. Consistent with SMEJ’s mission, submissions can be empirical, conceptual, and/or philosophical and should advance teaching and learning in sport management education to prepare future sport professionals.

Sport is a powerful social arena — a place in which social relations are both reproduced and transformed. Despite significant progress in women's participation in sport, gender inequalities persist across domains such as power, governance, media representation, economic resources, and career opportunities. This conference aims to foster interdisciplinary, critical dialogue on gender and sport in contemporary societies, linking historical perspectives with present-day challenges. Special emphasis is placed on understanding social change, as well as identifying structural constraints and transformative possibilities within the field of sport.

Behnam Raeesian is an Iranian visual artist and poster designer working at the intersection of political urgency and symbolic minimalism. His BREAD AND FOOTBALL is a critical poster series that examines football as a global spectacle shaped by power, distraction, and controlled emotion. Through seven minimal visual metaphors, the project questions how the World Cup can move beyond sport and become a mechanism of mass attention: a beautiful trap, a ritual of applause, a toxic atmosphere, a controlled signal, and finally, a diversion that silences other urgent realities.

This special issue examines how sporting practices function as complex spatial phenomena that simultaneously reproduce and challenge power structures. By bringing together contributions from different disciplinary and geographical contexts, the issue aims to consolidate a stronger critical geography of sport capable of addressing territorial disputes, embodied inequalities, colonial legacies and contemporary forms of resistance. We welcome empirical and theoretical contributions from scholars working across different regions, particularly those engaging with Global South perspectives, feminist methodologies and anti-colonial approaches.

For this special issue, we welcome contributions exploring the mutually constitutive relationship between sport, competition, and affect. To explore the unresolvable tension between empowerment, docility, unruliness, and social hierarchy brought forth by sporting practice, we invite cultural, ethnographic, and historical case studies to analyse how subjects fashion themselves and are themselves fashioned by affect in sport. Our collective aim is to emphasize the political, cultural and visceral conditions of competition which play a role in racializing, gendering, dis-/enabling, and sexualizing its subjects.

In their book Sport, National Identities and the Media: Battling Brits (Routledge, John Harris and John Vincent examine the relationship between sport, the media, and national identities in Great Britain. It draws upon case studies of different sporting events and stories, looking at the ways in which the media (re)present different narratives of the nation(s). We asked Christoph Wagner for a review, and received a thorough presentation and assessment concluding that the book offers a focused insight into recent developments and as such should be on the literary canon for undergraduate and postgraduate students alike.

Situated at the intersection of US cultural and social history, David Faflik’s Segregation Games: Boston, Busing, and the Making of Red Sox Nation (University of Massachusetts Press) examines the surprising ties in 1970s Boston between the racial segregation of the city’s schools and the racial controversies expressed on and off the field of “Red Sox Nation.” Our reviewer Duncan Jamieson has some reservations about Faflik’s use of the words ‘play’ and ‘game’, but otherwise finds the book well worth a careful reading.

Thomas M. Leeder & Lee C. Beaumont’s edited collection Teaching and Coaching Lifestyle Sports: Research and Practice (Routledge) is the first book of its kind to provide both theoretical and empirical insights into the process and practice of teaching and coaching lifestyle sports across school, community, and high-performance sport contexts. We asked Peter Carlman for a review, and sent this insightful presentation and evaluation of the book, claiming that it holds wider relevance within sport studies, as it addresses fundamental questions about knowledge and meaning in sport.

idrottsforum’s weekly newsletter gives you the past week’s on-site activities in your mailbox every Monday morning, in the form of a letter with a link to a web page presentation of new publications. Click below to access that page, which also offers you a chance to subscribe to the Monday morning mail in case you’re not already a subscriber. And do friends and colleagues a great favor by telling them about this invaluable and totally free service.

In Playing on the Edge: Sport, Society and Culture in Asia and Oceania (Peter Lang Publishing) authors David Rowe, Bonnie Pang and Keith D. Parry go beyond orthodox globalization theory, deploying the metaphor of ‘playing on the edge’ in analyzing the dynamic process of making and remaking sport culture in Asia and Oceania. Malcolm MacLean’s highly competent review zooms in on the edge metaphor, so suitable in the study and analysis of the Asia–Oceania region from a predominantly Australian perspective, and making the book an essential addition to critical globalization studies of sport.

The World Cup offers a rich site for psychoanalytic inquiry. Whether in relation to nationalism, fandom, desire, identification, embodiment, spectacle, media, race, gender, inequality, anxiety, enjoyment, failure, or collective belonging, the tournament continues to generate profound emotional investment across players, fans, nations, and media institutions. This provides an important opportunity to think critically about why sport matters, and why football, in particular, continues to occupy such a powerful place in our social and subjective lives.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup for men is an event shared between Canada, the US and Mexico. Not equally, though, 13 matches will be played in Canada, 13 in Mexico, and the rest, 78 fixtures, in the US. Although Mexico thus is less the host than the bartender serving a welcome Margarita, the effects of a mere 13 matches will be felt strongly in Mexico by the taxpayer and the environment, which is shown in this feature by Gonzalo Serrano and Toby Miller.

Published on the eve of the soccer World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, Jules Boykoff’s concise, power-packed philippic Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine (OR Books) provides a critical take on the dark underbelly of international football at its most storied moment. Our reviewer is philosopher Jake Wojtowicz, and his careful and critical reading of Boykoff’s latest offering shows how the book unmasks the harrowing situation created by Trump and Infantino and how it tarnishes the beautiful game.

Seàn Crosson’s Sport and Film (Routledge), now in its second, fully revised and updated edition, traces the history of the sports film, from the beginnings of cinema in the 1890s, its consolidation as a distinct fiction genre in the mid‑1920s in Hollywood, to its contemporary manifestation in Oscar‑winning and nominated films such as Million Dollar Baby. In his review, Dilwyn Porter focuses on what’s new compared to the first edition from 2013, for instance a new chapter devoted to sports documentaries, and concludes that Crosson’s book still is the go-to source for sports scholars approaching film.

Global Sports Go Green—Or Do They? by Toby Miller and Joan Pedro-Carañana (Palgrave Macmillan) explores the multifaceted impact of sports mega-events, from the World Cup to the Olympics, Formula One, and America’s Cup. Often celebrated for uniting nations, showcasing culture, and driving economic growth, these events also face increasing scrutiny for their ecological and social consequences. Russell Holden is much impressed by the authors’ efforts showing global sports at its worst – not going green at all, merely greenwashing.

There have been significant expansions in the expression of Celtic identity through sport this century. The Gaelic Athletic Association continued its 140-year history of exporting its games across the world. The games continue to have sizeable presences in diaspora spaces of North America and Australasia, but their popularity is also growing in Europe, particularly in France and Spain. The forthcoming symposium is aimed at gathering contemporary stories of sport’s contribution to the negotiation of Celtic identity in the 21st Century with a view to building a collaborative network of scholars

Onsdagen den 12 februari 2025 försvarade Maria Howding med den äran sin avhandling i idrottsvetenskap, Möten i friluftsliv: Lärarutbildare utforskar den egna undervisningspraktiken (Malmö University Press). Avhandlingen syftar till att utforska de förutsättningar som främjar förändring i undervisningsmetoderna för friluftsliv inom idrottslärarutbildningen. Nina Westrin Modell är vår recensent, och i hennes informativa och intresseväckande granskning och värdering av avhandlingen framgår att Howding bidrar med viktiga perspektiv på undervisning och lärande inom friluftsliv.

idrottsforum’s weekly newsletter gives you the past week’s on-site activities in your mailbox every Monday morning, in the form of a letter with a link to a web page presentation of new publications. Click below to access that page, which also offers you a chance to subscribe to the Monday morning mail in case you’re not already a subscriber. And do friends and colleagues a great favor by telling them about this invaluable and totally free service.

This series explores the intersection of sport, women, and gender, challenging binary thinking and embracing the full gender spectrum. Covering recreation to elite sport, the series takes an interdisciplinary approach, addressing social, cultural, and political issues, advocating for inclusive and diverse perspectives. Founded by Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Professor Emerita at the University of Toronto, Emerald Studies in Sport and Gender is dedicated to advancing research on women and gender in sport. The current editor is Toby Miller, Distinguished Professor at the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey in Guadalajar.

Critical Issues in Sport and Society features scholarly books that help expand our understanding of the myriad ways in which sport is intertwined with social life in the contemporary world. Using the tools of various scholarly disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, history, media studies and others, books in this new series investigate the growing impact of sport and sports-related activities on various aspects of social life as well as key developments and changes in the sporting world and emerging sporting practices.

Petra Kolić’s and Christopher I. Morse’s edited collection Menstruation and the Menstrual Cycle in Sport, Exercise, and Physical Activity (Routledge) is the first book to offer students, researchers, and professionals an evidenced-based reference on considerations and concepts relevant to sports performance and physical activity during menstruation and the menstrual cycle. Leah Monsees has been waiting for a book like this, and minor critical points aside she concludes that the book makes a meaningful contribution to this emerging field.