It’s a pleasure to invite you to the 2nd East Asian Sport Sociology Forum (EASSF). The theme for this forum has been decided as follows: “The Role of Sport in Tackling Social Issues: Lessons from East Asia.” Under this theme, we would like to explore the following topics: class, community / regional revitalization, environmental sustainability, e-sport, gender, globalization, nationalism, Olympics and mega sport events, race, (social) media, sports for the disabled (para sports), sport organizations and governance, sport tourism, theories of sport sociology in east Asia, and so forth.

This Call would like to use the diagnosis of ‘sport in transition’ as an impetus to reflect on reality, authenticity and simulacra, and invite original and critical contributions that will deal, notably, with this exciting, albeit challenging, subject. The articles can be related to athletes’ experiences of authenticity, new sport’s phenomenology in relation to values in traditional sports, the sportification of crafts and skills, the marketing of sports due to values, the eventification of sport, supporter culture, nature vs. equipment, the reasons of consuming current sports, the sport(ification) vs. ‘sport culture’.

The controversy around whether or not trans women are eligible to perform elite sports in the women’s category is alive and well. The IOC decided in a 2023 policy declaration that they were eligible, a decision that was heavily criticized. In March 2026 a new policy was decided upon, stating that “Eligibility for any female category event /…/ is now limited to biological females, determined on the basis of a one‑time SRY gene screening.” In July 2026, five UN Rapporteurs published a communication addressed to the IOC, claiming that the new policy might infringe human rights. This in turn elicited a critical comment from Miroslav Imbrišević, published here.

As syllabi are prepared for the 2026-27 academic year, Jay Coakley presents an opportunity to include videos describing the history of political activism among Black athletes in the US. The 12-part series, The Last Lectures, consists of informative presentations by Dr. Harry Edwards, sociologist, noted civil rights activist, and Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley.

Łukasz Muniowki’s has kindly accepted to let idrottsforum.org publish an excerpt from Chapter 10, “White Privilege: Is Whiteness the Main Reason Behind Caitlin Clark’s Popularity?” in his new book, The Caitlin Clark Effect: Women's Basketball and the Rise of a Transformational Star (MacFarland 2026). Caitlin Clark is a generational talent that has had an undeniable influence on basketball, and this book examines its extent. The “Caitlin Clark Effect” is generally understood to be Clark's ability to garner more eyes on the sport of women's basketball.

The aim of the course is to advance student interest in, and understanding of, the social and cultural aspects of sport, with particular reference to broader issues of culture, cultural production and cultural politics.  The course will feature a mix of lectures, seminars and workshops on these themes. Lectures and seminars will be given by leading academics from Norwegian and other European universities.  Workshops will enable students to discuss their projects with lecturers and fellow students. 

This conference will bring together a diverse and multi-stakeholder group and use the spotlight of the Commonwealth Games to explore how sport can not only acknowledge historical wrongs but also build solidarity and move towards meaningful, sustained action. Grounded in the principles of reparatory and transformative justice, this is a moment to engage, challenge, and lead. Your presence at the conference will ensure that the knowledge shared and lessons learned extend beyond the conference, shifting the debate towards meaningful, sustained, and transformative action.

RF-SISU Västra Götaland och Göteborgs universitet bjuder in till konferensen Kvinnors situation inom idrotten – från pionjärer till mästare i samband med 100-års jubileet av "Damolympiaden" som ägde rum i Göteborg. Läs gärna Helena Tolvheds feature från 2006 om det historiska evenemanget.  Detta är en konferens för alla som är engagerade i, arbetar med eller är nyfikna på idrott, oavsett om du finns inom idrottsrörelsen, politiken, kommun/region, näringslivet eller akademin, eller om du helt enkelt har ett stort idrottsintresse.

Building on the “spatial turn” in social sciences, this special issue positions Olympic-related infrastructure as socio-technical systems that structure social relations, redistribute opportunities, and mediate power between stakeholders. The planning of the Olympic Games is increasingly shifting away from a monocentric model, resulting in networked venues, multi-city clusters, and diversified legacies. We welcome empirical and theoretical contributions that draw on diverse disciplines, including urban studies, geography, sociology, planning, anthropology, architecture, and others. Comparative and international perspectives are strongly encouraged.

The Department of Sport and Social Sciences, NIH, is advertising a three-to-four-year (depending on teaching assignments) PhD position in the field of sport management. The department comprises a broad academic environment that conducts research in sports philosophy, sports history, sports sociology, sports psychology, coaching, and sport management. The PhD project is partially predefined and focuses on how organized sport can contribute to increased physical activity among adults. The PhD candidate will have considerable freedom to define the specific focus of the project within this overall thematic framework.

This year’s conference aims to bring together researchers, journalists, football practitioners, policymakers, sporting organisations, supporters, and community groups to explore the impact and achievements of those reformers, activists, leaders and agents of change who have shaped the contemporary women's game. From grassroots initiatives and community activism to media innovation, leadership, governance reform, and commercial investment, women’s football continues to be shaped by people prepared to push boundaries.

The University of Salford is hosting a one-day symposium to explore the past, present and future of sports journalism in this context. Proposals are sought for individual papers (up to 15 minutes) or themed panels made up of 2-4 presentations, from anyone who has original research into sports journalism which they would like to share. Presentations are welcome from early career researchers, PGRs, independent researchers, journalists and other non-academics. This symposium will take place 100 years to the day since the first live commentary of a sporting occasion on BBC radio, of England v Wales in rugby union’s Five Nations Championship.

This special issue invites contributions that examin how sports betting has become embedded within contemporary sports cultures, institutions, and economies. We are especially interested in comparative perspectives on the development andlegalization of sports betting in the United States of America and Germany, including analyses of how and when legal frameworks changed and the broader consequences of these developments. We welcome interdisciplinary contributions from sociology, media studies, economics, law, history, political science, cultural studies, sport management, public health, and related fields.

This special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport will explore the storied history of cycling. Moving beyond specific histories of the Tour de France, which abound for cycling, this special issue will consider the world beyond Le Grande Boucle. Dr. Thomas Ross Griffin invites proposals for papers with a broad focus on the history of cycling, including, but not limited to, sport history, cultural history, diplomatic history, global history, environmental history, or media history.

A sport club is not only a sporting institution. It is a dense accumulation of founding myths, statues, museums, official histories, hall-of-fame portraits, anniversaries and commemorative rituals through which a collectivity tells itself who it is. In Pierre Nora’s terms, the club operates as a lieux de mémoire: a site where a chosen past is consecrated, made visible and put to work in the present. This special issue takes that proposition seriously and asks a single guiding question across different national settings: how does a club’s manufactured heritage actively shape its present.

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.