From admiration to policy partnership: a sevenstage model of football diplomacy and soft power in Vietnam–South Korea relations

Abstract

This study examines football diplomacy as a policy facilitating instrument and soft power resource in Vietnam – South Korea relations, rather than a deterministic source of influence. Moving beyond views of sport as symbolic or episodic engagement, it conceptualises football diplomacy as a sequential, negotiated, and institutionally embedded process linking cultural, economic, and governance dimensions of bilateral cooperation. Using a convergent mixed methods design, the study integrates digital discourse analysis, media and policy analysis, and secondary economic indicators from 2017 to 2025. The findings identify a seven-stage model through which football evolves from spontaneous admiration to bilateral co development via articulation, negotiation, economic signalling, institutionalisation, and recalibration. These stages show how governments, coaches, and publics transform football into a sustained yet contingent framework that facilitates cooperation without directly determining policy outcomes. The study refines soft power theory by positioning symbolic attraction as an outcome, rather than the origin, of influence, contingent on institutional embedding, local agency, and reciprocal engagement. It further highlights a shift from asymmetric learning towards partnership-based cooperation, as Vietnamese leadership and continued Korean collaboration support co production and inclusive governance. Overall, the findings clarify both the enabling capacity and structural limits of football diplomacy in contemporary international relations.