Play the Game

🎙️ New episode of the Play the Game Podcast!

How did sport become part of Donald Trump’s political machine?

In this episode, Stanis Elsborg speaks with investigative journalist Karim Zidan about Trump’s long and increasingly political relationship with sport.

For decades, Trump has used boxing, professional wrestling, golf, mixed martial arts, and football to build his brand, cultivate power, and place himself at the centre of the spectacle.

Karim Zidan explains how sport has become part of Trump’s political infrastructure – a space where strength, masculinity, nationalism, loyalty, grievance, and entertainment are turned into political power.

The conversation looks at:
🥊 Trump’s relationship with combat sports, from boxing and WWE to the UFC
🏟️ The network of sports executives, athletes, influencers, and political operators around him
🌎 The 2026 FIFA World Cup and Trump’s America First project
📰 What this means for journalism and the way we understand sport as a political arena

Karim Zidan is an investigative journalist covering sport, politics, power, and human rights. He is also the author of the forthcoming book 'The Ultimate Strongmen', which examines how mixed martial arts has become a powerful tool for political agendas, propaganda, and control.

🎧 Listen to the Play the Game Podcast in your podcast app of choice.

Link in comments 👇

IOC lifts restrictions on Belarus despite ongoing repression of athletes ⚠️

🔎A recent Deutsche Welle investigation into the disappearance of Belarusian sports activist Anatol Kotau has brought renewed attention to the suffering of those athletes who oppose the regime.

In a comment for Play the Game, Jens Sejer Andersen asks if the IOC has dealt with this situation before it recently lifted its restrictions on Belarus 🤔

Anatol Kotau – a former secretary general of the Belarusian Olympic Committee who later joined the opposition – disappeared in August 2025. The investigation points to a possible abduction involving Belarusian and Russian intelligence services. His whereabouts remain unknown.

However, despite continued persecution of athletes and sports officials, both in Belarus and in exile, the IOC decided in May 2026 to lift its restrictions, restore payments, and declare the Belarusian NOC compliant with the Olympic Charter.

Some of the questions that need to be raised are:

👉 Did the IOC raise Kotau’s disappearance and the oppression of athletes in its talks with the Belarusian NOC?

👉 Or did the IOC, in its eagerness to include Belarus as a step towards getting Russia back on the Olympic stage, betray the Belarusian athletes?

Read the full comment by Jens Sejer Andersen (link in the comments)👇