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Sports paradiplomacy (SPD)

Sports paradiplomacy (SPD) is a new form of diplomacy, which generally refers to the conduct of international relations delivered through the prism of sport by substate nations or subnational actors such as Wales, Catalonia or the Basque Country. The SPD activities may be undertaken by substates or subnational actors in tandem with or independent of their centralised national government.

In the context of SPD, substate or subnational actors use sports events and sports diplomacy initiatives to showcase their regional identity, culture, and economic potential, and to forge relationships with other subnational and national actors around the world. This can help to promote regional cooperation and intercultural relations, attract trade and investment, and enhance the international profile and competitiveness of the substate or subnational entity. While SPD is yet to attract a universally agreed definition, at the 15th Sport and European Union Conference (University of Rijeka, 2021), Gavin Price, a Director at the global consultancy Sports Diplomacy Alliance, described this rapidly evolving discipline as:

"A substate or devolved administration’s unique style of diplomacy, undertaken at the local, regional or international level, through and/or independent of its central government, aiming to strategically co-opt sport to build relationships, attain policy goals and amplify profile and attractiveness as a place to invest, study, trade or visit. It may also involve significant actors from city municipalities, sporting federations and major sports clubs operating in substate settings and include cultural relations dynamics".

Price's pioneering definition diversifies SPD's approach to include a wider range of non-state sporting and wider civil society actors than conventional paradiplomacy might typically involve. It also builds upon core elements of Dr Stuart Murray's definition of conventional sports diplomacy normally applied to the activities of sovereign nations such as Australia, France or the United States.

Wales-Cymru: SPD innovation and leadership

As a devolved nation within the United Kingdom system, the substate of Wales (Cymru in Welsh Language) offers the most diversified example of SPD. From a policy perspective, the British Council Wales report - Towards a Welsh Sports Diplomacy strategy (Murray & Price, 2020)  - provided the research foundations to trigger the inclusion of a freestanding policy stream on SPD within the Welsh Government’s International Relations through Public Diplomacy & Soft Power 2020-2025 Action Plan (2020). In practice, Wales is innovatively fusing traditional SPD activities such as trade, invest and tourism with cultural diplomacy pillars like music, arts, the Welsh language (Cymraeg), heritage, diaspora engagement and its mythical landscapes to showcase a unique outward profile and value proposition to the world.

In particular, Wales-Cymru’s football culture provides a multifaceted source of art, music and digital media connected to the Welsh national football teams. This has been creatively leveraged by the The Football Association of Wales, Welsh Government and other Welsh civil society and business partners as international engagement mechanisms to bring the story of Wales to the world stage.

Expo’r Wal Goch 2022 (Red Wall Festival) saw the world’s first-ever festival of football culture in Wrexham, North Wales to coincide with the World Cup finals in Qatar. The Football Association of Wales released a stunning new version of Dafydd Iwan’s famous Welsh national folk song ‘Yma o Hyd’ in partnership Welsh drill artist, Sage Todz on the build-up to the World cup play-off versus Ukraine and a further version to celebrate qualification for Qatar 2022 featuring Iwan in collaboration with the Red Wall Cymru supporter’s group. This was followed by a collaboration with Welsh rap artist, Juice Menace in an exclusive track titled, ‘For Her’, to support Cymru’s women’s footballers.

The Welsh Government has complemented these cultural relations activities through sport with more formal SPD streams such as sport and business networking forums and initiatives to promote the Welsh nation’s commitment to improving policy outcomes connected to social inclusion, progressive values, sustainability and future generations. To note a few examples of many, in 2023 the Welsh Government delivered an event in London for the diplomatic community focussed on exploring approaches to sports diplomacy in partner nations and faciliated an expert panel at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games to consider the topic of empowering women and girls in sport.

Other SPD actors

Other substates, regions and small nations are considering aspects of the Welsh approach to SPD such as the Basque Country and Scotland. Most notably, in June 2023 the Basque Country (Euskadi in the Basque language) will host the first ever 2-day World Congress on Sports Diplomacy in Donostia-San Sebastian to coincide with the Basques hosting the Grand Depart and early stages of cycling's Le Tour de France 2023. The Congress will explore international, regional and substate approaches to sports diplomacy and serve as a basis for the Basque Country to work towards its own unique global SPD policy framework (including strengthening bilateral relations with Wales through sport and culture under an existing MOU between both nations).

Wider examples of SPD initiatives in practice include establishing sports exchange programs with other subnational entities, promoting regional sports tourism, and building sports infrastructure and facilities to attract athletes and sports teams from around the world. For instance, Ginesta et al (2020), Shobe (2008) and Xifra (2009) have argued that it is the global reach of the iconic football powerhouse, Barcelona FC (BFC), which has evolved into Catalonia’s most compelling soft power asset. Often partnering directly with the Catalan Government (the Generalitat), BFC has played a key role in promoting the “Catalunya” (Catalonia in Catalan) brand through the deployment of its star players and officials as ambassadors for tourism marketing campaigns and sport-business summits.

Overall, SPD can be a powerful tool for substate and subnational actors to enhance their international engagement and profile, promote regional cooperation and development, and showcase their regional identity and culture to the world. As SPD evolves, it is antcipated that a deeper lens will become increasingly focused on cities, major metropolitan areas and states with federalised systems such as the United States, Australia, Brazil, Germany and India. For example, the build up to the 2028 Summer Olympic games will see the Los Angeles city municipality and the state of California become more prominent actors in the SPD arena.