About this episode

The episode explores the intersection of geopolitics and the 2026 World Cup, discussing migration, national identity, and the political implications of the tournament.

Join us for a special audio-video episode, also available in video form on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqBlbd4_1TU . Professor Edward P. Joseph sits down with rising second-year MAIR student Manolo Préstamo for a wide-ranging conversation on the geopolitics of the 2026 World Cup. As the tournament unfolds across North America, the two examine how the world's most-watched sporting event has become a mirror of global politics. They discuss the prominence of immigrant and dual-national players on national teams amid an increasingly charged global discourse on migration, and what the absence of major powers — Russia, banned from international competition, and China, unable to qualify — reveals about the shifting relationship between sporting prestige and geopolitical standing. The conversation also turns to the politics playing out in the stands, from some Iranian supporters waving pre-revolutionary monarchist flags to the broader ways fans use the tournament as a stage for contestation back home. Produced by the Phillip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Produced and edited by Wasay Mir.

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Small World, Big Problems podcast page.