What is sports diplomacy?

Sports diplomacy first and foremost helps French actors develop their actions globally and uses sports as a key tool in our cooperation with our partner countries and puts successful international sporting events in France to work to improve our outreach and influence in the world.

Promoting French sporting expertise all over the world

Alongside the Ministry for Sport, Young People and the Voluntary Sector, Business France, BpiFrance, the economic interest grouping France Sport Expertise, and the entire sports sector, the French Foreign Ministry supports the international development of French sports companies, for example, by showcasing the expertise of the companies that actively participated in the success of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Together, this Team France helps our companies to break into new markets, including in companies organizing major events. The French Foreign Ministry also supports INSEP’s international action and sporting federations to showcase their expertise for foreign partners.

The diplomatic network also helps promote French positions on major sports-related issues such as governance, ethics, the fight against doping and rigged matches and the fight against discrimination. This work is conducted within international sporting bodies but also international bodies (UN, UNESCO, European Union, OECD, Council of Europe).

Finally, the Ministry ensures that the French language is used and promoted  during sporting events, particularly the Olympic and Paralympic Games (support for the signing of an agreement between the OIF and the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, French involvement in the Francophone Games that will be held in  Yerevan, Armenia, in 2027, etc.).

This action has economic benefits for our companies and strengthens our influence around the world.

Download the agreement between the OIF and the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee - PDF format - 207 kB

Putting sports at the heart of our partnerships

Sports have become a major cooperation tool in our bilateral relationships. Hosting major international sporting events in France increases our partners’ interest in deepening partnerships in the sector, in particular when it comes to accompanying and supporting the strengthening of sports ecosystems in Africa. The diplomatic network actively supports the French sports movement in its international exchanges. This action contributes on a daily basis to our diplomatic relations with the authorities of our partner countries but also to our friendly ties with their civil societies, and boosts France’s influence in the world.

The French Foreign Ministry has gradually begun using its cooperation tools to further sports diplomacy, for example, the Team France Funds since 2019, and the “Rapid” Team France Funds, since 2023. These funds enable our embassies to support projects centred on sports to foster our cooperation in several areas:

• Facilitation of the access to sporting infrastructures or equipment;
• Support for inclusion policies, the fight against discrimination and reintegration through sports;
• Strengthening of governance regarding sports;
• Development of elite sports.

Since 2019, the French Foreign Ministry has thus accompanied more than 100 projects using support as a lever for development in the world, implemented by civil society (sports federations, local associations, universities, media outlets and journalist training, companies, etc.). Decentralized cooperation in sports, spearheaded by French local governments, is also encouraged via the call for “sports and decentralized cooperation”
 projects, created in 2021. A total of 49 sports projects have thus been financed involving French and foreign local governments with the support of our embassies.

The Agence Française de Développement (AFD), a French Foreign Ministry agency, was also tasked with using sports as a tool to further the Sustainable Development Goals by the French government in 2018. Since then, nearly 200 projects have been implemented in 45 countries, enabling 10 million young people to have access to sports, to integrate into society, to train for a job and to participate in efforts to fight inequality and discrimination.  It is within this framework that funding was provided for projects, for example, to develop academies bringing together sports and education for young people (in Senegal, Liberia, Morocco, Cameroon, Mali and South Africa), and to strengthen social cohesion in Africa via the “Sport en Commun” platform which supports, among others, elite French and African athletes in creating associations using sports as a development tool .

These projects are part of France’s international partnerships and development policy and drive our cooperation on a daily basis.

Download the AFD brochure: "Sports and Development" PDF - 544.5 KB

Finally, the Dioko Alliance is an example of success in terms of “sports Francophonie”, which encourages shared expertise and knowledge between France and Senegal with regard to Paris 2024 and Dakar 2026 (Youth Olympic Games (YOG)). The aim is to provide support to Senegal to make this first African Olympiad a success – particularly by building and renovating sports facilities for the YOG – but also by providing them with a legacy for the people of Senegal, e.g. by developing local sports facilities.

Using major sporting events as a tool for French outreach and influence in the world

In addition to recurrent sporting events such as the French Open (Roland-Garros), the Tour de France and the Vendée Globe, France has recently staged several major international sporting events: the UEFA Euro 2016, the World Men’s Handball Championship in 2017, the Ryder Cup golf competition in 2018, the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Track Cycling World Championships in 2021, the Alpine World Ski Championships in February 2023, the World Para Athletics Championships in July 2023, the Rugby World Cup in October 2023 and the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games in summer 2024.

This momentum is set to continue over the next five years, as France prepares to host some 40 major international sporting events by 2030 including the European Aquatics Championships from 31 July to 16 August 2026; several international championships including cycling and canoe-kayak championships in 2027 and the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in the French Alps in 2030.

These events are unique opportunities for France to promote its regions, its vision and its creativity among foreign authorities and policy-makers of the international sporting world and the general public.

To that end, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) is playing an integral role in organizing these major sporting events, in terms of consular and protocol matters, communications and crisis management, as was the case for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024. It takes advantage of these opportunities to increase France’s outreach and influence.