Mexico Launches First Book on Sports Diplomacy and 'Sportwashing

A new academic volume titled *Diplomacy and Sports Cooperation: Reputation, Development and Peace* was presented at the Casa Rafael Galván Cultural Center of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) in Mexico City. Edited by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), the book is the first in Mexico to study how sport is used as a tool of foreign policy, economic benefit, tourism promotion, peacebuilding and sustainable development.

The authors, including Dr. César Villanueva of the Universidad Iberoamericana, doctoral candidate Josué Efraín Herrera Orea, and researcher Ricardo Castillo López, discussed concepts such as “sportwashing,” where governments or institutions project a favorable image through high‑profile sporting events despite underlying conflicts. They cited examples like the pricing of tickets for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and a case involving Adidas and artisans in Puebla, highlighting concerns over labor abuses and image management.

The launch, organized in collaboration with the North American Cultural Diplomacy Initiative and UAM’s International Relations master’s program, aimed to spark debate on a largely understudied field in Mexico and to consider how large‑scale sports events can serve both cooperative and power‑projection purposes.