AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE FRENCH FOOTBALL FEDERATION’S WOMEN’S FOOTBALL DIPLOMACY PROJECT WITH IRAQ: INSPIRING EVERY GIRL IN IRAQ TO PLAY FOOTBALL
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30925/slpdj.2.2.1Keywords:
Sports Diplomacy, Football, France, Iraq, Federations, Women’s Football DiplomacyAbstract
This article examines the French Football Federation’s women’s football diplomacy initiative with Iraq as an example of a type of integrative sports diplomacy that empowers the sports world, and those they serve, in new ways. The effort, driven by a non-state sporting actor with support from the French state via its Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs’ sports diplomacy approach, demonstrated sports diplomacy’s short-term “wins” like changing people’s minds, cultural engagement, and sharing technical expertise through sports, creating the possibility of new opportunities, and offering different incentives for the sports world to engage.
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