Naming and Lower Cases as Diplomatic Tools in Sport? The Case of ‘SPAIN v. kosovo’ During Qatar 2022 World Cup Qualifiers

This research focuses on the Spanish strategy to balance its political non-recognition of Kosovo and the respect to the Balkan country’s full membership in FIFA and UEFA. Considering the relevance of naming as a political tool in cases of sporting diplomatic conflict, our driving research questions are: How relevant is the name of Kosovo for Spain in its use of sport to perform this state non-recognition? More specifically, how and to what extent did the official name of Kosovo become a key diplomatic element for Spain during the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers? Methodologically, we have applied a content analysis of the Spanish Football Federation, the Spanish public broadcasting corporation and three main private media outlets. The conclusion is that the stronger diplomatic mobilization of Kosovo forced Spain to accept all of its national symbology at the protocol level. Therefore, there was a deliberate attempt not only to avoid the use of the names ‘Kosovo’ or ‘Republic of Kosovo’ by the Spanish establishment, but also using lower cases when no other alternative was possible. However, its application was inconsistent among the executing actors due to the lack of internalization of the naming policy, thus making it ineffective.