Dear all,
We are a couple of days away from the summer recess, during which time only news item are published, such as Calls for Papers and vacancy announcements. The next newsletter, the last for the spring season, will arrive in your mailboxes on Monday, June 22.
We are a couple of days away from the summer recess, during which time only news item are published, such as Calls for Papers and vacancy announcements. The next newsletter, the last for the spring season, will arrive in your mailboxes on Monday, June 22.Last week the following items were published on idrottsforum.org (see below; language and publication dates, YYMMDD, in brackets). Click on the red headings to go to content. Utilize the Google Translate service to turn Scandinavian language pages into (some sort of) English.
And remember, if you’re not already hooked up to one of the social media outlets that we utilize, for now they are Facebook, LinkedIn and X, you’re missing quite a lot of information from idrottsforum.org that never appears on the website; this week no less than 28 updates on each, the same on all three. So, if that is the case, check out, by clicking on the names, our Facebook, LinkedIn and X accounts.
Have a great week,
Kjell Eriksson
Editor
Feature Article
2026: The VIP World Cup
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 in English 260611.
Book Reviews
Meetings in the outdoors – a walk through the landscape of school and teacher education
On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, Maria Howding successfully defended her dissertation in sports science, Encounters in Outdoor Life: Teachers Explore Their Own Teaching Practices (Malmö University Press). The dissertation aims to explore the conditions that promote change in teaching methods for outdoor education within physical education teacher education. Nina Westrin Modell is our reviewer, and in her informative and interesting review and evaluation of the dissertation, it is clear that Howding contributes important perspectives on teaching and learning in friluftsliv. (Review in Swedish, published 260608.)
“A very brave, valuable and readable piece of writing”
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. (Review in English, published 260609.)
Serious fun and seductive narratives
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. (Review in English, published 260610.)
FIFA and the World Cup is sportswashing Trump’s America
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. (Review in English, published 260611.)
Important regional study challenges the view of sport from the Euro-(North) American nexus
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. (Review in English, published 260612.)
Scholarly Journals
Since its inception 23 years ago, idrottsforum.org has been proudly presenting every new issue of almost all scholarly journals within the field of sport studies, widely defined. However, after carefully considering the whole situation – with increasing number of journals and number of issues per journal – we have decided to let go of the original ambition; it has become too time-consuming. Henceforth we will publish alerts about new journal issues on our social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn and X), and also special alerts when particularly interesting articles in scholarly journals are published online, giving priority to open access publications. The Scholarly Journals page will list all journals within the extended sport studies field for your information, and we will endeavor to update it with any new titles being launched.
News items (calls for papers, vacancies, etc.)
- Call For Papers | “Sport and Celtic Identity in the 21st Century”, a hybrid symposium on Friday, November 13, 2026 at Liverpool John Moores University | Call ends September 14, 2026 (260608)
- Call for Papers | Sport, Psychoanalysis, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup | Cogent Social Sciences (260611)
