Politically, the next week could see some madly interesting games of football.

Thread:

On Sunday, PSG will contest the #UCLfinal . They are owned by Qatar Sports Investments, the Qatari government.

It's a sports washing project designed to take away from the human rights abuses in the stage.

For example, the Kafala system that is workers owned by employers.

This isn't a new idea. The idea of using sports to forecast a more acceptable version of a state has been used since the 1930s with Mussolini and the World Cup. Argentina did this when they hosted the 1978 WC to show the 'peace' in the country gripped by dictatorship

The PSG project is trying to rewrite the image of Qatar and being them to the forefront of world politics and economics. Sports will change the image of a country to the wider population, and ignore the skeletons.

Away from PSG, the Europa League and Champions League qualifiers present a games with completely conflicting political ideologies.

Bohemians vs Fehérvár FC has an interesting political dynamic.

The Hungarian football club is Viktor Orbán's favourite football club and their owner is a close friend of Orbán.

The Hungarian PM has called refugees 'invaders' and 'poison'.

Bohs away kit:

Ferencvárosi will take on Celtic in the second round of #UCL qualifying.

Ferencvárosi supporters are unapologetically far right, going so much as to have Nazi flags and All Lives Matter banners at matches.

Celtic fans are openly anti-facist and displayed this against Lazio.

Legia Warsaw will be taking on Omonia in the #UCL . This is another far right vs far left encounter.

Warsaw, originated as the military team, and have strong far right links.

Omonia's ultras support the Progressive Party of Working People, the communist party.

KF Tirana of Albania are due to face Red Star Belgrade of Serbia.

Albania vs Serbia football matches don't really end very well.

In 2016, a game was hijacked with a banner for Greater Albania which led to rioting in Albania, Serbia, and Austria.

Reading material if people are interested:

1. 1913 - James Montague
2. Billionaires Club - James Montague
3. Angels With Dirty Faces - Jonathon Wilson
4. Ultra - Tobias Jones

I've a few academic articles too I'll root out from my thesis'. Shoot me a DM if people want links.

This is a really interesting read from @MiguelDelaney on PSG. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/psg-champions-league-final-qatar-paris-saint-germain-a9677466.html