Soft disempowerment dynamics in the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Journal: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Year: 2025

Abstract Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup presents a unique opportunity to examine soft disempowerment –a phenomenon where state-led initiatives to enhance national prestige through mega-sporting events inadvertently attract international scrutiny and criticism. This study addresses two important yet underexplored questions: (a) How do cross-cultural differences and influential actors shape the dynamics of soft disempowerment? (b) To what extent did efforts to discredit Qatar resonate