Dr Joel Rookwood is Director of Sport & Exercise Management and an Associate Dean for Global Engagement at University College Dublin in Ireland. He holds a PhD in Management and various other degrees (MRes, MSc, BSc Hons, PGCLTHE).

Joel previously worked for the World Academy of Sport and Federation University in Australia, served as a visiting fellow in Sport Management and Marketing at the University of Vic – Central Catalunya in Spain from 2010 to 2025, and held lectureships in Leeds, Liverpool, Southampton and Preston in the UK. He has given invited guest lectures in 20 countries.

Joel is co-chair of the Football Collective, a global network of applied football researchers and practitioners. He was Head of Research at Aalborg Football Club in Denmark from 2023 to 2025, and has consulted for organisations such as the Arab Interior Ministers Council in Saudi Arabia in 2025 and FIFPRO in the Netherlands in 2024.

Joel’s research interests include mega-events, international relations and development, and the sport industry. He has written / edited ten books and has 70 peer-reviewed publications. He supervises various PhD and master’s students.

He also writes for and creates content for Gløry magazine, and has produced numerous videos and documentaries amassing over 500,000 online views. Joel has worked at 25 sports mega-events in numerous capacities, including at the last six FIFA World Cups.

Joel previously worked in sport performance, as a soccer coach in North America and as an analyst and coach for several professional football clubs and national teams in the UK. He has also led 33 sport-for-development initiatives across six continents, most recently the UCDVO GAA project in Uganda in 2025-26. Joel has an extensive array of global experiences and has travelled to 179 countries.