Book excerpt: The forthcoming Olympics in Rio in 2016, and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014, highlight the profound importance of sport in Latin America. This book is the first to offer a broad survey of the way that sport is managed, governed and organized across the Latin American region, drawing on cutting-edge contemporary scholarship in management, policy, sociology and history. The book explores key themes in Latin American sport, including the role of public institutions; the relationship between sport policy and political regimes; the structure and significance of national governing bodies and professional leagues; the impact of sporting mega-events (including the Olympics and World Cup), and the management and governance of football, the dominant sport in the region. Including contributions from Latin American scholars and practitioners, the book draws on important Spanish and Portuguese sources that are unknown to most English-speaking researchers, and therefore provides an unprecedented and authoritative insight into sport policy and management in the region. Including cases from sport in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Peru and examples from Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, this book is essential reading for all scholars, practitioners and policy-makers with an interest in Latin American sport, comparative sport policy, sport management, or Latin American history, culture and society.