Typology of European Sports Programmes for Welcoming Migrants: Contrasting Political Philosophies

The unprecedented growth in the number of forced migrants in the 2010s was met with varying political responses in European countries. Going beyond the binary dichotomy of hostility and hospitality, this article is based on an innovative methodology for understanding the different political approaches to migration reception and the ways in which migrants were welcomed through sport. Analysis is based on a qualitative inventory of sports programmes (N = 202) in four European countries (England, France, Germany, Italy). Inductively from the above-mentioned objectives, we first typologised “political philosophies” in the use of sport, which are (i) “integration”; (ii) “emancipation”; and (iii) “protection”. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) between the criteria for analysing sports programmes reveals oppositions between assimilationist and multiculturalist tendencies, and political or apolitical claims. Finally, based on a hierarchical ascendant classification (HAC), we find three types of sports programmes significantly linked to different host countries: (I) “integrationist” in Germany; (II) “emancipatory” in France and Italy; and (III) “humanitarian” in England. Our results suggest that a political analysis of these sports programmes contributes to a better understanding of how the national contexts of migrant welcome have differed since the “crisis” of the 2010s.