Sport Diplomacy or State-Sponsored PR?

Presented as an instrument of soft power, Hungary’s teqball diplomacy raises deeper questions about transparency, political priorities, and the use of public money in foreign policy.

Author: Dr. Georges Suha

Over the past decade, sport has assumed a significant role in nation-building and in enhancing international prestige, fitting closely into the rhetoric built around “national interests.”

Government oversight of sports diplomacy was placed under the authority of the foreign ministry, and since 2018 a separate Department of Sports Diplomacy has coordinated the professional work. Initially, it operated under the supervision of Tamás Menczer, the former sports reporter who, at the time of the department’s creation, held the title of “State Secretary responsible for information and Hungary’s international representation,” and who today is known merely as a Fidesz communications operative infamous for his unqualifiable style. Since last year, sports diplomacy has been directed by the parliamentary state secretary, naturally under the minister’s direct control, who appointed Olympic champion swimmer Dániel Gyurta as head of the department.

It is important to note that István Iglói-Nagy, who headed the department from the beginning until recently, was a respected and well-prepared professional in his field his sudden and unprecedented removal made room for the then ministerial chief adviser. According to reports, the department head learned of his immediate dismissal from a notification sent to his government portal account. That is how things are done these days on Bem Embankment.

The removal of Iglói-Nagy from the position confirms precisely the trend that, in this field, expertise matters less than political loyalty and the involvement of media-attractive personalities and celebrities. Questions also arise regarding the transparency of programmes and the diplomatic preparedness of athletes, since an athletic background alone is not sufficient for handling complex international relations, while deficiencies in accounting continue to cast doubt on whether the public funds spent on this area are being used appropriately.

The most divisive and heavily criticised area of the ministry’s sports diplomacy activity is the state effort devoted to the international expansion of teqball. For those unfamiliar with it, the state has officially declared this sport a “protected national value,” a hungarikum, even though it has not become an everyday sport for the Hungarian public either.

The worldwide promotion of this “product,” associated with György Gattyán, has taken on dimensions on the part of the Hungarian government whose economic and diplomatic rationality is highly questionable. Tens and hundreds of millions are being scattered around without any measurable result. Hungarian “teqball diplomacy” has become the textbook case of all sports diplomacy activity within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, although in reality it is nothing more than a disguised form of state subsidy.

The essence of the mechanism is that the state, for “sports diplomacy” purposes, buys equipment from a private enterprise with public funds and then gives it away free of charge to foreign partners. The ministry first concluded a strategic agreement in 2019 with the International Teqball Federation, the international organisation also founded by Gattyán and headquartered in Kőbánya,  under this agreement, the ministry initially undertook to purchase two hundred teqball tables. That was only the beginning; since then, there have been continuous ad hoc procurements. The curved table is not a cheap piece of equipment, costing roughly HUF 1.3 million per unit. Of course, it must also be delivered (each piece weighs around 120 kg), and the handover event itself also costs money (travel for demonstration athletes, catering, etc.).

Szijjártó presented such teqball tables as gifts to the headquarters of NATO and the United Nations, but the equipment also ended up in refugee camps in Jordan, in Cape Verde, Kosovo, Uzbekistan and numerous distant countries, as well as in Hungarian communities beyond the borders. Argentina alone received 50 of them, while Djibouti, Georgia, Tanzania and several member states of the Turkic Council also received some: by 2021, the ministry had given this hungarikum to 59 countries.

The senseless waste has declined somewhat since then, but according to estimates nearly one hundred countries that is, every second country in the world, have now received such a charming gift.

The only criterion for selection was that the minister should be able to ceremonially hand over these sports devices. The amount spent on teqball is embedded in the ministry’s central budget, making itemised accounting opaque; at the same time, it can be stated that the sport has received approximately at least HUF 1.4 billion in budgetary funds, of which the ministry’s own “purchases” amount to at least half a billion. In addition, there are the already mentioned concealed ancillary costs: travel, salaries, and so on.

Serious doubts also arise regarding the diplomatic return. According to the trade press (for example Inside The Games and SportBusiness), the “aggressively expanding” International Teqball Federation remains a marginal actor, and the long-desired “Olympic dream” meaning the sport’s inclusion in the Olympic programme, has still not materialised. The chances of entering the Olympics have fallen to a minimum, indicating the failure of the lobbying effort with regard to its most important objective.

The diplomatic impact of “table gifting” is impossible to interpret. It often happens that these expensive gifts end up in warehouses, or are used for another sport (for example table tennis); there is no coach, no professional staff, and in many countries not even a ball.

The case of teqball diplomacy, burdened by obvious failures and corruption-suspect elements, suggests that the good intentions and effectiveness of all sports diplomacy activity within the ministry may be questioned. Teqball is a textbook case in which state involvement creates an incredible profit opportunity for the manufacturer, while the costs are borne by taxpayers. The current approach to sports diplomacy does not serve the effective construction of soft power; rather, it is limited to maintaining the business model of a private company with public funds and generating PR events devoid of substance.

This is useless, senseless public spending covered in diplomatic sauce. There is no direct state return: the tables are gifts, and they are treated as such. There is no indirect benefit either: recipients do not buy additional ones alongside the free units, nor have they generated measurable export growth in other sectors. The “photo diplomacy” that costs billions serves only to provide Péter Szijjártó with something to post pictures about after a visit. It is an alibi gift, undeniably more spectacular than a Herend vase, but with immeasurable diplomatic weight.

This is why profile-cleansing and a reconsideration of the ministry’s strategic focus are urgent. Sports diplomacy, as an independent, large-budget activity in its current form, imposes an unnecessary burden on taxpayers and diverts resources from genuinely critical diplomatic tasks. What the ministry needs is not athletes, but well-trained diplomats with classical diplomatic competencies, who represent broader national interests rather than trying to promote the market position of a particular sport or company. The sidelining of recognised experts and the elevation of “celebrity diplomacy” also confirms that the ministry is moving in the wrong direction in this area. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade should return to its fundamental tasks, while the international promotion of sports should be entrusted to the appropriate professional sports organisations, thereby ensuring more effective and transparent use of public funds and the achievement of genuine diplomatic results.

Cover photo credit: Gemini

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