Play the Game Podcast

Sporting mega-events promise celebration, unity, development, international prestige, and unforgettable moments. But what happens behind the spectacle — and what remains when the cameras leave?
In this episode of the Play the Game Podcast, Stanis Elsborg speaks with Sven Daniel Wolfe about the politics of mega-events and what Wolfe calls "the hard edge of soft power."
Wolfe explains how his own fascination with sport developed into research on the infrastructures, investments, disruptions, and political interests that make global sporting events possible. His academic turning point came through the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, where he experienced both the emotional power of the event and its consequences for the city and its residents.
The conversation explores why governments find the FIFA World Cup, the Olympic Games, and other mega-events so attractive. Wolfe argues that they remain some of the world’s biggest shared stages, giving political leaders a rare opportunity to communicate different messages to domestic and international audiences at the same time.
The episode also examines the relationship between mega-events and authoritarian politics, from historical examples such as the 1934 World Cup in Mussolini’s Italy, the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and the 1978 World Cup in Argentina to Russia’s recent mega-event decade. Wolfe discusses Sochi 2014 as a watershed moment in Russia’s political development and reflects on how sport, national identity, security, and soft power became intertwined.
But the discussion is not limited to authoritarian states. Wolfe argues that authoritarian practices can also emerge around mega-events in democratic settings, including displacement, surveillance, social cleansing, and extraordinary security measures.
The conversation then turns to what happens after the spotlight. Drawing on his current research, Wolfe explains how organising committees disappear, promises become difficult to track, and the short-term needs of the event can override the long-term needs of host cities.
Finally, the episode looks at the USA's current mega-event decade and Wolfe’s provocative comparison with Russia. He explains where he sees parallels, where the comparison has limits, and why major sporting events should be examined as political projects as well as sporting celebrations.
Guest: Sven Daniel Wolfe, assistant professor of social and cultural geography at the University of Neuchâtel
Host: Stanis Elsborg, head of Play the Game
This episode is produced by Play the Game.
Music: Voices by rexlambo & Cold Case by Riverside

Aston Villa’s new partnership with Visit Rwanda is the latest chapter in a much longer story about sport, image, power, and politics.
In this documentary-style episode of the Play the Game Podcast, Stanis Elsborg looks at how Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, has used global sport to reshape the country’s international image – from Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, and Atlético Madrid to the NBA, cycling, FIFA, and now Aston Villa.
The episode uses Aston Villa’s front-of-shirt deal with Visit Rwanda as a starting point to explore the political use of sport: how football shirts, elite clubs, international leagues, and major events can help promote tourism, investment, and national branding, while also raising questions about which stories are amplified and which are pushed aside.
You will hear from Carine Kanimba, the daughter of Paul Rusesabagina, whose story inspired the film Hotel Rwanda. Kanimba argues that Visit Rwanda is not only a tourism campaign, but a political branding project. Her testimony brings the discussion from sponsorship strategy into the lived reality of critics, political prisoners, and families who have challenged Kagame’s government.
This is a story about how sport can become part of a government’s international image – and why the meaning of a sponsorship is shaped not only by clubs and sponsors, but also by fans, critics, journalists, activists, and affected communities.
Host and narrator: Stanis Elsborg, head of Play the Game
This episode is produced by Play the Game.
Music: Voices by rexlambo & Lost in the ocean by Limujii

FIFA’s latest crisis has once again raised a fundamental question for international sport:
Who holds those in power to account when sport’s own systems fail?
In this episode of the Play the Game Podcast, you can hear a narrated version of the opinion piece “FIFA’s latest crisis shows why sport needs independent oversight”, written by Stanis Elsborg, head of Play the Game, and Jens Sejer Andersen, founder and senior advisor.
The piece responds to the recent crisis around Gianni Infantino’s plan to restructure FIFA’s commercial operations — a proposal that triggered protest, pressure, and internal criticism before it was withdrawn.
But the argument goes beyond FIFA and Infantino.
The episode looks at a recurring pattern in international sport: when sport’s own safeguards fail, it is often journalists, whistleblowers, survivors, lawyers, prosecutors, and public authorities who expose what the system did not confront.
From corruption and doping scandals to abuse, match manipulation, and other integrity breaches, Play the Game argues that internal reform is no longer enough.
The episode presents the case for permanent and genuinely independent oversight in international sport — and introduces ClearingSport, Play the Game’s proposal for an independent international entity able to counter crime, corruption, and other integrity breaches in sport.
Host and narrator: Stanis Elsborg, head of Play the Game
Authors: Stanis Elsborg and Jens Sejer Andersen
This episode is produced by Play the Game.
Music: Voices by rexlambo & I Walk With Ghosts by Scott Buckley

Online sports betting is often presented as entertainment – a fast-growing industry built around odds, apps, sponsorships, and fan engagement.
But behind parts of that industry lies a much darker story.
In this episode, you can hear investigative journalist Lindsey Kennedy expose how illegal online gambling networks in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and the Philippines have developed into sprawling criminal empires built on human trafficking, forced labour, torture, corruption, and organised crime.
Thousands of people from around the world are lured by fake job offers and end up trapped in compounds where online gambling and scam operations thrive.
As these compounds expand, they have even become entangled in armed conflict – turning parts of the global betting industry into something far more dangerous than a question of gambling regulation.
The episode also connects the story to international sport.
According to Kennedy, companies linked to these criminal networks have been able to sponsor major European football clubs, using sport to clean their image, build legitimacy, and move closer to the mainstream.
Host: Stanis Elsborg, head of Play the Game
Speaker: Lindsey Kennedy, investigative journalist and research director at the Eyewitness Project
This episode is produced by Play the Game.
Music: Voices by rexlambo

Ten years ago, Gianni Infantino was elected FIFA president with a promise of reform, transparency, accountability, and a “new FIFA”.
At the time, world football was still shaking from one of the biggest corruption scandals in sports history. Senior FIFA officials had been arrested, investigators were uncovering bribery and money laundering schemes, and journalists and whistleblowers had exposed a system built on loyalty, money, and power.
In this episode of the Play the Game Podcast, Stanis Elsborg looks back at Gianni Infantino’s first decade as FIFA president and asks a simple question:
What kind of FIFA did he actually build?
The episode traces FIFA’s journey from the corruption scandal of 2015 into the Infantino era - looking at reform promises, politics, weakened independent scrutiny, and FIFA’s growing proximity to political power.
It also explores Infantino’s relationships with Vladimir Putin, Qatar’s leadership, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Donald Trump - and asks what these relationships reveal about FIFA’s direction under his presidency.
Along the way, the episode revisits the role of investigative journalists, whistleblowers, and reform figures who challenged FIFA’s culture of impunity, including Andrew Jennings.
Host: Stanis Elsborg, head of Play the Game
This episode is produced by Play the Game.
Music: I Walk With Ghosts by Scott Buckley & Cold Case by Riverside