Sport, soft disempowerment and the 1966 Fifa World Cup

Bibliographic Data

ID6416760
AuthorsRichard Woodward (0000-0003-0653-1788, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume20
Issue4
Pages707-724
Publication date2025-03-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1746-918X • E-ISSN: 1746-9198
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1057/s41293-025-00281-w
OpenAlexW4408685959
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited48

Sport is increasingly acknowledged as a vital component of the United Kingdom’s arsenal of soft power assets. However, the UK’s attempts to wring soft power from sport have met with mixed success. Many of the UK’s experiences align with an embryonic literature suggesting that sport, as well as enabling the production of soft power, is simultaneously capable of eroding it, a phenomenon dubbed ‘soft disempowerment’. Drawing upon original archival documents, this article examines how the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) commandeered the 1966 World Cup and England’s victory in the competition in a doomed attempt to communicate positive messages about the UK to foreign audiences. Instead a proliferation of alternative narrations of the event by opposing actors ultimately resulted in disempowerment. The case of 1966 also reveals previously overlooked sources of disempowerment, particularly the paradox of credibility. This arises when governments, to enhance the credibility of their messaging, delegate responsibilities to independent actors and institutions—only for these entities to undermine that credibility through actions that spark controversy or cause offence

Comparative politics · Political economy · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Physical Education and Pedagogy · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

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