Soft Power and Discursive Control in FIFA’s 2023 Disciplinary Regulations: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach

Abstract

In recent years, FIFA, as a global organization in the realm of football, has assumed a role beyond merely organizing football tournaments and has transformed into one of the influential actors in global legal, political, and cultural domains. One of the key tools of this institution in exercising power is its disciplinary regulations; regulations that, on the surface, are formulated to preserve order but intrinsically embody discourses of legitimacy, domination, and representation. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to conduct a critical analysis of these regulations with a focus on their discursive functions within the global sports legal system. This study was carried out qualitatively, employing the critical discourse analysis approach. The complete text of FIFA’s Disciplinary Regulations (2023) was analyzed as the primary dataset. The theoretical framework was a combination of Norman Fairclough’s and Teun van Dijk’s models, emphasizing the linguistic, semantic, and social dimensions of the text. The analyses indicated that FIFA’s disciplinary regulations, beyond their legal-textual nature, function as instruments for reproducing authority, controlling narratives, setting boundaries of legitimacy, and silencing opposing voices. Concepts such as justice, equality, or ethics are utilized primarily in the service of authoritarian order rather than structural reform. FIFA’s disciplinary regulations have transformed the legal order into an instrument of soft power and discursive control. In the absence of transparency and genuine participation, this order is largely symbolic and reproduces inequalities. Hence, discursive analysis of these regulations provides a pathway to uncover the hidden layers of domination within the global sports legal system.