European Games set down building blocks for future

The European Games is just one sporting plank in a project aimed at building Azerbaijan’s international profile, writes Brendan O’Brien.

Chances are that if this summer’s inaugural European Games has caught your attention at all — and we’re guessing it hasn’t — it is probably because you’ve been watching La Liga in recent weeks.

If so, you may have noticed the change on Atletico Madrid’s jerseys this last month with their ‘Azerbaijan: Land of Fire’ sponsorship logo replaced by the more prosaic legend of ‘Baku 2015’.