theguardian.com: In 2015, Azerbaijan will host the first European Games in the capital city of Baku. President Ilham Aliyev sees it as an opportunity to put his country on the sporting map but outside Azerbaijan few have even heard of the event. To its critics the European Games is a huge vanity project for both its organisers and its hosts; to others it is merely the latest signpost towards where global sport is headed. The Guardian's chief sports correspondent, Owen Gibson, examines the reasons behind Azerbaijan's drive to host a number of major sporting events