Month: June 2026

Jordan is among the teams making its first-ever appearance at a World Cup, and for the country’s ambassador to the United States it is a chance to introduce the world to a country often viewed through the lens of regional conflict and security challenges — and to showcase a different side of the Middle East.

“You see us through security, we see us through humans,” said Dina Kawar, who has represented the Hashemite Kingdom in Washington since 2016, an unusually long spell for a foreign diplomat there.

Her team plays its second match tomorrow, in northern California. Given Jordan’s defeat in its first match against Austria, and the fact that it will face Lionel Messi’s Argentina in its third, the team will almost certainly need a victory against Algeria tomorrow to have any chance of advancing to the next round

“All eyes are on the Jordanian team because we are new in this,” Kawar told POLITICO earlier this month. “Of course, Argentina is important for us. People know Argentina. People will be watching closely to see where we go.

A career diplomat who was educated in the United States, Kawar discussed what she wants World Cup watchers to learn about Jordan: the country’s growing investment in sports, including women’s soccer, and how Amman hopes to use the tournament to showcase Jordan as a destination for tourism and business.

Since this will be Jordan’s first appearance at a World Cup, what does this achievement mean for the country and for Jordanians around the world?

It’s a big deal. It’s a big deal for us on the national level. I think the whole country is going to stop during the game. It has ignited national pride.

For the Jordan Football Federation, they see it as an important step to improve the local sports infrastructure. We hope that it attracts commercial sponsorships and interest in the country in general.

For the federation, this is an occasion for the team to step into being a professional team. It means having more money, more sponsorships. The players can be in other teams and clubs. That’s very important.

How far do you expect them to go in the tournament?

Look, if you don’t dream big, nothing happens. Honestly, the most important thing is to have a good game. If they win, that’s fantastic. If they lose, at least it’s a decent game. For us, the most important thing is that the game is a good one. If you look at how they performed in the Asia and Arab Cups, they’ve done an amazing job. This team has a lot of potential, and when you have a team that has a lot of potential, it’s more exciting.

Jordan has thus far been more successful in women’s soccer than men’s. How did that happen? 

The team was established in 2005 by Prince Ali bin Hussein, and he’s been a big, big supporter of advancing women’s football.

Since then, we’ve won the West Asia Championship and the Arab Cup twice. I think our women’s team has been a leader in the Arab world.

Despite the challenges, there are always cultural taboos and social taboos. Female football was a little bit of an intrusion into the male-dominant world of football.

But look at the U.S. The [women’s] team has been amazing. Despite the cultural and social taboos, we’ve been breaking boundaries and championing this important game.

What aspects of Jordanian culture and society do you want the world to see during Jordan’s first World Cup appearance?

This is an important opportunity to showcase Jordan’s rich cultural heritage, its vibrant identity, and not only its passion for sports.

We want to show that Jordan is a beautiful destination.

We’re having fan zones in Dallas and Santa Clara with concerts, food trucks, activities for children, shops and markets. We want people to visit and see how beautiful Jordan is.

The tourism in Jordan is amazing. You have cultural tourism, the Dead Sea, religious tourism, some of the most beautiful mosaics, nature and hiking. Of course, Petra and Wadi Rum are beyond description.

Most Americans still see the region through its security challenges.

You know what, Sophia? You see us through security, we see us through humans. That’s one thing I would like to correct at the start.

Sports is becoming more important. There’s always been interest in soccer, but now there’s more awareness and more effort from governments to push their teams forward. As you go through that process, brilliant players get the attention of leagues and other clubs, and that’s how it goes. The ball starts rolling.

The fact that sports is becoming so important in the Arab world is because countries are investing in it and making a network. I think that’s a very, very good thing.

We’ve always had football in Jordan, but now it’s another level. It’s the beginning of a new phase.

​Politics

ATLANTA — Gulf countries have plowed billions of dollars into domestic soccer, led by a multi-year Saudi spending extravaganza that has brought global superstars and new attention to its domestic league. But it is doing little to improve their showing at the World Cup.

The United Arab Emirates failed to qualify. Qatar has been on the losing end of one of the tournament’s most lopsided scorelines. Saudi Arabia now needs a win in its next match to have any chance of progressing. The results, and the performances behind them mark a disappointment for the monied Gulf petromonarchies’ hope of wielding power through sports.

“The Saudis are using football to speed up soft power that would normally take decades to build: reputation, tourism, investment and global relevance,” said one business consultant who has worked with Riyadh on commercial strategy and was granted anonymity to protect relationships.

Saudi Arabia’s heavy defeat to Spain on Sunday may have been the most glaring moment of all. The country began its spending extravaganza in 2022, and has brought players who left their mark in Spain’s domestic league — including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema — but the Saudis couldn’t keep up in global competition.

“When we have these stars in the Arabian League, I think that the more competitive the competition, the better our players will be. But it’s different when we’re playing for the national team because in the national team — these experiences — there needs to be a certain mentality,” Saudi team manager Georgios Donis said at a post-match press conference on Sunday, in response to a question from POLITICO.

“I’m always a realist in what I see,” Donis continued, “and I believe that over time we’re going to put together an excellent, national team and we will come back to the level that we can with the opponents in the next team where we’ll be very competitive.”

The 2022 host nation Qatar, which owns European champion club Paris Saint-Germain and leading global broadcaster beIN Sports, was humiliated by Canada last week. The United Arab Emirates, which counts English giant Manchester City and Major League Soccer’s New York City FC in its soccer portfolio, has qualified for the World Cup only once, in 1990. The biggest name to join one of the Gulf domestic leagues, Cristiano Ronaldo of Riyadh’s Al-Nassr, has been ridiculed in international media for his detrimental impact on the Portuguese squad.

Those familiar with the thinking of Saudi soccer officials say they are trying to avoid the example of China, which found that signing big stars to its domestic league was economically unsustainable while doing little to improve the national team’s fortunes.

“That also showed the limits of buying attention without building lasting credibility, although the Chinese did it mostly for national prestige,” said the business consultant. “The Saudi approach feels more strategic. They are already getting attention and access. The bigger question is whether that becomes long-term credibility, and they seem pragmatic enough to change course if parts of the project don’t work.”

Authorities in Riyadh are realistic and regard the impact on elite level as being long term, said another industry figure who has worked on soccer with the Saudis. There is only so much time for patience, however: Saudi Arabia will hope for a stronger performance by the time it hosts the men’s World Cup in 2034.

​Politics

Sunday presents another test for both Belgium and Maximus Textoris Pulcher, the rescue cat that Prime Minister Bart De Wever hoped would become the 2026 successor to Paul the Octopus, who predicted (with surprising accuracy) the winners of the 2010 World Cup.

De Wever’s cat has become something of a feline influencer — Maximus’s Instagram following now outpaces the PM’s — but probably shouldn’t quit social media for prediction markets. Maximus, who chooses a match’s outcome by pawing from one of three dishes, anticipated a Belgian win in the team’s first match against Egypt — it ended in a draw. Maximus has again tipped the Red Devils to prevail today, this time against Iran.

​Politics