A sport is considered international when athletes from different nations compete against each other. These competitions can take place in the same country, as for example a football match between England and Australia, or they can be held on neutral territory, as is the case for rugby matches. International sports are overseen by a network of international governing bodies. Each governing body has the responsibility and duty to manage its discipline at world level and ensure that it is well-developed by monitoring the everyday organisation of events and guaranteeing that the rules of fair play are respected.
The most famous international multi-sport event is the Olympic Games. Other important events are the FIFA World Cup, the Asian Games and the Pan American Games. In addition, the European Games are an emerging multi-sport event for teams from Europe.
Some international multi-sport events are organised across concords of cultural elements: language, such as the Francophone Games; ethnicity, such as the Maccabiah Games for Jewish athletes and the Universiade for university students; political, such as the Spartakiad used by opponents to the Olympics in Ancient Greece; and gender, such as the Gay Games. Other divisions are based on region and religion.
In some cases, athletes in international sports are subjected to harsh treatment by the governments of their host countries. The governing bodies of some sports, such as FIFA and the IOC, have been criticised for their inability to protect their members from authoritarian regimes. In 2022, for example, the International Olympic Committee refused to exclude Afghanistan from the Paris Games because of the Taliban’s ban on women’s sports, despite protests by Human Rights Watch.