From football field to global politics, will FIFA discourse help Russia? A critical discourse analysis of headlines

This paper examines how the FIFA World Cup 2018 headlines generated by Russia are a means to utilize and apply soft power with the aim to restore Russia’s role as one of the powerful and influential states in the global politics. Analysing the use of evaluative patterns in selected headlines, this paper scrutinizes the socio-historical influences that shape and reinforce nationalist and capitalist ideologies, and hence drive the discourse patterns within the headlines. Governed by the theories of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Appraisal Theory, the analysis revealed that the headlines were crafted to help Russia move out of global isolation. This symbolic domination was fulfilled by regaining global legitimacy while surging up nationalism and patriotism through the lexical choices applied in crafting the FIFA discourse. This study provides a model for future analyses of the socio-political and historical influences and contexts of the discourses surrounding global events like FIFA.