A mass of Norwegians rowing their way through Times Square. Mexicans and Koreans doing keg stands in Jalisco. The sound of Scottish bagpipes blasting throughout Boston. If you’ve been on social media over the last month, thanks to the World Cup, these are the images that probably dominated your feed. 

It would be easy to dismiss these viral clips as one-off charming moments on the internet, but they’re more significant than that. These little pockets of soft power – influence derived from culture and values, rather than military or economic coercion – underpin how people view the world. Over the last few years, traditional “hard power” tools have dominated geopolitics, with war and trade tensions monopolizing headlines. Policymakers, especially ideological realists and neorealists, are quick to overlook how something “soft” like an international sporting event has any sway. In the leadup to being one of the World Cup hosts, the United States Government itself held little regard for how the rest of the world saw them, prohibiting the Iranian national team from staying overnight in the U.S. and banning a Somali referee from entering the country. And yet, this World Cup and these viral people-to-people moments have only reinforced how potent soft power is at shaping global perception and underpinning the broader geopolitical order. 

First, it’s well-documented that the World Cup has enormous global reach. The 2022 World Cup reached 5 billion fans worldwide across all media platforms, many of whom are in the Global South. Roughly 82% of the online engagement in 2022 World Cup content was in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and South America– all geographies where great power competition has a historic tendency to unfold. Competing in the World Cup gives countries a baseline level of name recognition that can shape how those around the world think of them in the years between the games. Beyond the raw reach of the Cup, the stories and images throughout the tournament also translate into social media followings. Vozinha, goalkeeper for African island nation Cabo Verde, amassed over 28 million Instagram followers in the days after nearly knocking off reigning champion Argentina. A former bus driver from an island of 530,000 people is now a global celebrity with cultural cachet and a platform to sway perspectives of those who follow him. We also see the World Cup shaping how people think about where to travel, and consequently, where to spend their money. Online searches in the United States for “Norway travel” spiked 5000% following the Norwegians’ dramatic defeat of Brazil. Whether that will translate to flight ticket purchases remains to be seen, but it’s clear that the coverage of Norway’s teams and fans has sparked curiosity that could translate to a tourism boom benefitting their economy. These are just a few examples of the World Cup’s ripple effects, but it’s clear that being part of the tournament gives countries cultural relevance that no hard power tool can provide.

Yet, as the tournament’s images of international exchange beam across the world, many countries remain on the outside looking in. Take one economic superpower stuck on the sidelines: China. Despite its economic prowess, football success continues to evade China. It’s not for lack of trying: the Chinese Communist Party has invested billions of dollars in their domestic soccer apparatus, in the hopes of returning to the World Cup after missing every single one aside from 2002. And there’s a reason they keep trying. China is well-aware of the soft power benefits that come with global sporting events. Just look at how seriously it took its Olympic host responsibilities in 2008 and 2022. In the absence of fielding a team this year, China is still trying to stake its claim at this World Cup. It’s the second-largest sponsor behind the United States, with three Chinese firms contributing over $500 million to this tournament. Chinese equipment and technology are all over this year’s World Cup, present in everything from the teams’ analytics platforms to the flags on the field. And viewership from China remains enormous– 49.8% of digital and social viewership in the 2022 World Cup was from China alone. Yet, despite all of this, is any casual viewer actually watching the tournament and thinking about China? Are Chinese superstars gaining massive social media followings from new global audiences? Are people walking away from games planning for a vacation in China? No. Even with the volume of money China is pouring into being a presence at the World Cup, it can’t make up for the organic, cultural cachet that comes with being on the screen. As World Cup viewers watch games, scroll social media, and form warm opinions about other countries, China – as well as the other countries not on the field– just isn’t in the conversation. 

But why does this matter? How do viral internet moments actually play a part in geopolitics? At a time when the United States’ popularity is low, foreigners traveling to the World Cup are reporting back on their positive experiences with everyday Americans. It’s giving the United States a soft power boost, in spite of a policy environment that seems to undercut it. At a time when young people– the ones who will be shaping our policy in years to come– are turning to social media for their news, the people-to-people moments are the ones infiltrating their algorithms, not official state press releases. They’re forming memories and associations that will stay with them as they move ahead in their careers and shape the global order we live in. For all the attention on hard power tools in the current geopolitical moment, the World Cup is a clear embodiment of how soft power carries influence. If policymakers want to compete on the global stage, they cannot forget about the culture and people that enable them to compete in the first place– even if it starts with a viral row in Times Square.