A tentative schedule showing the sessions for Play the Game 2019 is now ready as new speakers join. Early bird deadline extended.

China, Japan, Kenya, Los Angeles, Macau, Singapore… Preseason is about to start and the English Premier League is going global again. It is all about money-spinning.

Traditionally, Japanese sport has a tough hierarchy, but in the run up to next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo both the media and the public has begun to critically examine the traditional practice.

Despite more debutants having qualified for the upcoming UEFA Champions League, the tournament is still comprised of an exclusive group of clubs dominating their national leagues year after year.

For a variety of personal reasons, three trusted Play the Game staffers have decided to pursue new work opportunities. As our new analyst and communications officer we welcome Stanis Elsborg.

So far, more than 50,000 dollars have been granted from sports and media organisations in Denmark and Norway. This adds to the 130,000 USD raised by the UCCS and local sponsors in Colorado Springs

There is still time for you to join the group of 120 expected speakers for Play the Game 2019 in Colorado Springs.

To secure time for U.S. visa applications, 1 July has been set as a new deadline for journalists who wish to apply for a conference grant to Play the Game 2019

With the AFC elections coming up, former official within the Australian Football Federation and insider turned whistleblower on the Australian bid for the 2022 World Cup, Bonita Mersiades presents the history and context surrounding the current president of the AFC who stands unopposed at the election.

Can soccer play an independent role in bringing nations together, asks James M. Dorsey in this article that discusses sport’s ability to build bridges and turn foes into friends.

There is an old saying that doping is an intelligence test – only the stupid get caught. This might be so, but we should also question the intelligence of followers and fans of sports every time they get surprised when new doping scandals occur.

There is no single global anti mega-event movement. There is, however, a globalized way of protesting against mega-events that adapts to local conditions, and anti-Olympic protesting is a ‘new normal’. This is how researchers John Lauermann and Dennis Pauschinger sum up the article series on public protests and mega-events.

Although anti-Olympics activists face an uphill struggle against Olympic intransigence, Jules Boykoff points to areas that could help convert the many moments of anti-Games activism into a full-throttle movement. This is the sixth article in a series looking into protests and the Games.

The historical roots and deeper conditions of the 'demonstrations cup' in Brazil in 2013 are essential for the understanding of the movement’s consequences, says Erick Omena. In this essay, he looks into the genealogy of the public protests in Brazil leading up to the FIFA Confederations Cup, the first of three mega sporting events held in the country from 2013-2016.

American cities have not had much tradition for anti-Olympic movements in spite of a series of Olympic bids in recent years. This might be changing, writes Greg Andranovich and Matthew J. Burbank in this article that analyses the current anti-Olympic movement in Los Angeles, which is based on public awareness and social justice.

Through an evaluation of Hamburg’s referendum for the 2024 Games, this third article in a series about civil society, contestation, and the Games examines the role of citizen participation and discusses some of the reasons why the NOlympia campaign gained so much resonance in the city and outside Germany.

Sporting events in Russia are directly linked to the formation of a new Russian national idea and identity under Putin’s rule and have become an important tool in forming the narrative of the nation and establishing a meaningful relationship between the past, present and future, writes Stanis Elsborg in this analysis on sport and identity in Russia.

This second article in our series on civic contestation of mega-events looks to Russia and the protests that have played out here in spite of the efforts by authorities to stifle and suppress popular resistance.