Major sporting events generate measurable economic effects and attract tourists. According to analyses, UEFA Euro 2024 generated EUR 7.4 billion for the German economy and attracted 2.7 million fans. At the same time, 97% of foreign participants declared that they would like to visit the host country again. Countries are increasingly using sport as a tool to attract investment and build their international image. Poland has experience in organising large sporting events, but still lacks a systematic approach to using this potential.
“The potential of sport to build a country’s image and attract investment is very large. We can realise it by organising major sporting events, through the successes of our athletes, by building their recognition, and by ensuring that Polish representatives are active in the structures of international sports organisations. This makes it easier for us to lobby for hosting major sporting events,” Michał Banasiak, President and co-founder of the Polish Institute of Sports Diplomacy, told Newseria.
This year’s PIDS report, Sports Soft Power. Ranking of Countries 2026, shows that sport is becoming an increasingly important element of countries’ international strategies. According to the study, which covered 60 countries, 30 of which were included in the ranking, the United States remains the leader in using sport as soft power. Its strengths include the global recognition of sports leagues such as the NBA and NFL, events such as the US Open and the Super Bowl, athletes, and the commercialisation of sport. Italy, Spain and France followed in the ranking.
Italy’s position is linked, among other things, to the organisation of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, as well as the large number of its representatives in international sports federations. France and Spain, in turn, benefit from the strong recognition of their athletes.
In a separate ranking that takes into account only the extent to which sport is used in a country’s foreign policy, the leaders are Saudi Arabia and Qatar, followed by the United States, China and Russia. This criterion includes data on areas such as public funding of clubs and sporting events, the implementation of a state sports strategy and the naturalisation of athletes to improve a country’s sporting performance.
“Among the countries that in recent years have focused on sport as a way of building their image, we can see both large, wealthy Gulf countries that have allocated enormous resources to securing major sporting events or sponsoring international sport, and smaller countries that, during the Olympic Games, have their only window in a four-year period to appear on the world map and in people’s awareness,” said Michał Banasiak.
Such effects can also be visible many years later. One example is the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, after which the number of tourists in the city rose from 1.7 million to more than 7 million annually in subsequent years, exceeding 8 million in 2015. Tourism growth was supported by infrastructure investments and promotional activities carried out after the Games, including the creation of Turisme de Barcelona.
Poland ranked 17th in the overall PIDS ranking.
“Poland has its very strong points. One of them is the recognition of our athletes. Robert Lewandowski, Iga Świątek and Robert Kubica are personal brands that the whole world talks about, and they are our natural ambassadors beyond sport as well. We can see their reach in social media, which today is one indicator of recognition,” explained the President of the Polish Institute of Sports Diplomacy. “It is also a question of our portfolio of major sporting events, because in recent years we have organised many events at the level of European championships, world championships and World Cups.”
In recent years, Poland has regularly organised major international sporting events. During the 2022 Men’s Volleyball World Championship, co-hosted by Poland, national team matches filled arenas, with some games watched live by several thousand spectators. In 2022, Poland also hosted the group stage of EuroBasket, while the 2023 European Men’s Handball Championship was broadcast to dozens of countries and attracted tens of thousands of fans to the stands.
In 2025, Poland hosted the U21 World Handball Championship, with 32 national teams taking part. In the same year, Lublin hosted the 2025 European Short Course Swimming Championships. The calendar also includes recurring events such as the Ski Jumping World Cup competitions in Wisła and Zakopane, which attract tens of thousands of fans every year.
“We have repeatedly shown that we have the know-how, that we know how to bring these events to Poland and how to carry them out logistically and organisationally. However, we certainly still have a lot to do in this area. This includes making better use of our marketing ‘locomotives’ in the world of sport, so that we not only benefit from their success, but also have a strategy for using their recognition. It is also about mechanisms that will help promote Poles to international sports organisations and ensure that as many major sporting events as possible come to our country,” Banasiak emphasised.
According to analyses prepared for public administration, the cumulative effect of UEFA Euro 2012 on Polish GDP reached PLN 21.3 billion by 2020. The main source of growth was the acceleration of infrastructure investments, especially in transport. The football tournament attracted more than 670,000 foreign fans, which translated into a lasting increase in tourism and additional billions of zlotys in revenue in subsequent years.
Poland’s ambition for the coming years is to attract the organisation of the 2040 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. This goal is included in the government’s Strategy for the Development of Polish Sport 2040.
“The Olympic Games in Poland should certainly not be approached as a sports festival on which we spend a lot of money and then see what happens. In my view, it should be a reward for a development process, not only in terms of sports infrastructure, but also energy and transport infrastructure, which is necessary to organise such Games efficiently and at the same time in a way that benefits our economy,” the expert explained.
In his opinion, the success of an Olympic project depends not only on infrastructure, but also on broad public support and real benefits for residents. The key issue is how the event is planned so that it is distributed across different regions of the country and produces effects that go beyond sport itself, including in tourism, services and the promotion of Poland abroad. The experience of other countries shows that a properly prepared strategy can translate into long-term growth in the country’s recognition and tourist interest.
“We should prepare an Olympic offer not only addressed to the IOC and the people who will decide whether the Games can come to Poland, but also to all potential audiences. This includes tourists who will come for the Games and, at the same time, will be able to discover our broad tourism offer, then return to their countries as natural ambassadors of Poland and say that it is safe, beautiful and delicious here,” said Michał Banasiak.
