International sports take place when two or more countries compete against each other in a sport, often organised by an international governing body. These events can be held in one country, for example England’s cricket team playing Australia at Wembley Stadium, or on neutral territory, such as the Rugby World Cup final between South Africa and New Zealand that took place in France in 2018. A popular form of international sport is football, where teams represent a nation in a competition despite being drawn from more than one sovereign state (although some national sports associations argue that a team represents a single nation in a sociological sense).
International sporting events have great cultural significance and are a powerful tool to promote nations and cities around the world. A bid to host a major event like the Olympics or FIFA World Cup involves demonstrating how the host city and nation can benefit from being selected, for example in terms of economic or social development. This can be achieved by highlighting specific ‘touchable’ things like improved transport infrastructure and urban regeneration projects, or by more abstract ‘intangibles’ such as increased national pride.
However, a major issue is the way that hosting an international event can be used by corrupt governments to further victimise local communities. For instance, researchers have found that African footballers are more likely to suffer fatal cardiovascular events than European players because they receive less medical support. This was highlighted by Zohreh Abdollahkhani of the University of Trondheim at the recent Globalisation and International Sports conference.