America's Game in the Middle East: The 2027 Qatar Basketball World Cup

After successfully hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022, Qatar continues to retain sport as an important domestic and foreign policy tool. In April 2023, Qatar achieved another historical win by being selected as the first Arab nation to host the men’s basketball World Cup, a quintessentially American game, invented in the late nineteenth century in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the second most popular global sport after football.
This panel discussion serves as the launching event for a new CIRS research project titled “America’s Game in the Middle East: The 2027 Qatar Basketball World Cup,” which studies U.S. and Middle East political and cultural engagements through the lens of basketball.

Location: Faculty Conference Room (1D02), Georgetown University in Qatar

Speakers: Claudia Kozman (Northwestern University in Qatar), Yaseen Ismail Musa (Former Professional Basketball Player and Head of the Qatar Basketball Federation), Joseph John (Al Jazeera English)

Moderator: Danyel Reiche (Georgetown University in Qatar)