More Than Just a Game was created to showcase the power of sports beyond competition and business. Global affairs increasingly spills onto and off the sports arena and this series provides a fresh perspective on how sports can serve as a tool for diplomacy, cultural exchange, and conflict resolution. CGTN America Aims to redefine how athletics are viewed; not just as entertainment or competition, but as a force shaping societies and influencing world events.
In this series CGTN America explores how sports can unite nations and fuel political discourse. Whether through iconic protests, international rivalries, or athletes using their platforms for activism, More Than Just a Game explores how the world of sports intersects with history, politics, and social change. It gives audiences including aspiring athletes, casual fans, and policymakers, a deeper understanding of sport’s true influence.
This series is also part of a growing field in academia, where sports is analyzed as a key component of current affairs and diplomacy. By examining how athletes act as global ambassadors and how major sporting events influence international relations, More Than Just a Game contributes to the broader discourse on sports diplomacy.
Bringing More Than Just a Game to life was both an ambitious challenge and a personal mission. Pitching a sports-focused series within a major news network, where hard news dominates, took some work. Creator Ahmed Ghoneim worked to convince editors that sports is deeply intertwined with politics, diplomacy, and culture.
Growing up Ghoneim played Under 21 academy football for professional team Olympiakos in Greece, and had only valued it for its game and technique. But as he traveled the world playing football, he began to experience the harsh realities of racism on the pitch. These personal encounters with discrimination ignited a deeper curiosity about the intersection of sports and society, and how sport can be both a unifier and a battleground for global issues.
His experiences led him to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where he pursued International Studies and Diplomacy. While there, he took took a groundbreaking course in Sport and Diplomacy, the first of its kind at the institution, which shaped his perspective on how sport functions as a form of soft power and diplomacy. The series is inspired by the lessons he learned in that course and aims to share that knowledge with the general public.
The pieces were all scripted, pitched, written, and video-edited by Ghoneim, with some producing and photography by CGTN producer Eshalaxmi Barlingay and Cochi Guimaraes while in the field in Brazil. Text editing and story shaping was done by CGTN America’s digital editors Lisa Chiu, Omar Elwafaii and Han Peng. CGTN America’s creative team developed the branding and intro and closers.
Many of the pieces were shot outdoors with Ghoinem filming himself vertically. This year CGTN America digital had the opportunity to cover the G20 in Brazil and Ghoneim quickly worked to incorporate the series into his regular news coverage. Ghoinem and Barlingay stepped into Rio’s favelas and beaches to highlight the untold stories of how sports shapes communities.
In the run-up to the 2026 US, Mexico, and Canada World Cup, the series presents a unique platform to expand and explore the matches through a cultural and political lens.
More Than Just a Game exceeded the team’s objectives in highlighting important cultural and political stories. The consistent coverage opened new opportunities within the team to explore vertical and explanatory storytelling and inspired others to pursue similar projects. Many of the pieces got higher than average views and comments.
The series proved that a producer can create a series in addition to regular news production and demonstrates how passion can translate into well-researched explanatory storytelling that offers a fresh take on global affairs.
