In 2019, the Spanish government published the first strategic document in its history on diplomacy sport, and, in theory, it possessed more sporting resources and institutional infrastructure than many European countries actively working in this field. However, seven years later, that document has not transformed into publicly visible strategic action. The recent agreement between the Ministry of Defense and LaLiga hints that the country is relearning something that had already been outlined.
In March 2026, LaLiga and the Ministry of Defense, through the CESEDEN (Centro Superior de Estudios de la Defensa Nacional), signed an educational collaboration agreement that began with the session “Diplomacy and sport: the ‘soft power’ in the international projection of Spain”, where both institutional representatives and experts gathered in Madrid to discuss this topic. Although the title seems novel, Spain had already achieved significant progress in 2019, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, through the Secretaría de Estado de la España Global, published a report entitled “Sports diplomacy as an actor of Global Spain: the need for a model for Spain”. This was the first public attempt to develop a national strategy for sport diplomacy and serves to show that it’s not that Spain lacks a plan; it’s that it has forgotten that it has one.
The Plan No One Remembers
The report, developed by Diego Calatayud Soriano, was not something vain, but a complete and contextualized document that analyzed other models, identified assets and opportunities and proposed a model for Spain in several phases. In 2026, if we conduct a documentary analysis of the state of sport diplomacy in Spain, it is rare to find this document actively cited or even any measure that has been carried out. The roadmap was drawn, but there are no identifiable institutional responsible figures nor political appreciation of what has been fulfilled.
“The possibility of winning a medal is strategic, but what to do with the international attention generated by that medal is not”
With this I don’t want to say that Spain has made no progress at all, since the Sports Law of 2022 recognizes the public interest in the outward representation of elite sport (something not very common in the European sphere). Moreover, since 2020, the Pacts of Viana require that Spain’s professional football clubs allocate part of their funds to other sports (€16 million annually for the Team Spain Elite program to support Olympic athletes with great potential). This funding has a purely sporting character and not foreign policy, and, therefore, is one of the factors that makes evident how important medals and victories are, but not enough to develop its political component. The possibility of winning a medal is strategic, but what to do with the international attention generated by that medal is not.
The Neighboring Country Doesn’t Even Have a Draft
If we analyze the institutional development of a neighboring country with comparable sports capital, in the case of Portugal we see that it has multiple international victories in various sports, elite sports infrastructure and the world’s most followed sports ambassador, Cristiano Ronaldo. Nevertheless, the concept of “sports diplomacy” remains completely undocumented institutionally and there is no ministerial structure or agreement aimed at the political and diplomatic component of sport. In the face of that, Spain clearly leads: a strategic document, law, funding mechanisms. However, execution and coordination between the diagnosis, resources and the players of sports diplomacy are lacking.
The 2030 World Cup: The Opportunity
The next great opportunity is the World Cup 2030, which will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco. It is one of the megasport events with the greatest international visibility and, therefore, will be the crucial showcase that sport diplomacy in Spain will have in a generation. Moreover, the event occurs at a key moment for international sport diplomacy. UNITAR organized the “World Cup Diplomacy Summit” in June 2026, focusing on how host countries can integrate these events, along with other sporting components, into their foreign policy.
“The World Cup is one of the megasport events with the greatest international visibility and, therefore, will be the crucial showcase that Spanish sport diplomacy will have in a generation”
España will arrive at this event better prepared than many, since in theory it knows what it has to do. The question is whether hosting the World Cup will serve as a triggering moment to activate the 2019 document and transform it into a unified strategy among the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the Superior Council of Sports and all involved actors, or whether it will be once again an event marked by reactive management and without a coordinated strategic thread.
In fact, an institutional body for this purpose had already been created: in February 2025 the Interministerial Government Commission for the organization of the 2030 World Cup was established, whose first session was led by the former Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría. Although the Commission’s mandate includes the international projection of Spain alongside security, visas and transport, it remains to be seen whether this will be an opportunity for the body to apply the 2019 model or whether this international dimension will focus purely on the tourism portion of the event.
The agreement between LaLiga and CESEDEN can, then, be read in two opposing ways. An optimist would say that Spain is finally reclaiming the abandoned 2019 project and the bet on sport diplomacy. Conversely, a pessimist (perhaps more realistic and pragmatic) would argue that if, in 2026, we still need a homegrown initiative to train experts on the link between sport and ‘soft power’, it means the document that explained this so comprehensively in 2019 did not have any institutional impact. Not that Spain needs a new plan, but to execute the one it has.
