Sports Diplomacy in Motion

The association Let’s Play presents a new project In 2014, Let’s Play Association sets up a second edition of its project “Play in Rio”, which is to take place during the World Cup next summer. Similarly as the first edition last year, the goals are to bring sports equipment to local educators and children from … Continue reading →

Sports Diplomacy: A Chinese Perspective In 2008, China became the 22nd nation to host the Olympic Games. It was the first time the old nation organized the world’s biggest sports event, welcoming more than 10,000 athletes on its soil. More than five years later, China remains at the forefront of global sport and politics. Doping … Continue reading →

Football Diplomacy, Post-colonialism and Japan’s Quest for Normal State Status Over the past decades, football has become a powerful cultural resource for representation purposes among Far East countries (especially Japan, Korea and China). This recent shift of perception is explained by the peripheral status of Asian football that prevailed for many years. Football had been … Continue reading →

The Role of Sport in Transnational Peacemaking Sport has been used as a tool to actively promote peace, reconciliation and development in the past few years. Several projects have been set up in the Balkans, the Middle East, West and Central Africa, Sri Lanka and South America in order to improve social relationships between divided … Continue reading →

Global Diplomacy: Nation Branding and Sports Events In the 21st century globalized world, sports events are more and more regarded as a market in which countries can attract media interest and draw attention on the host city and the competing nations. This phenomenon of “nation branding” is aiming to increase new investments and actively promote … Continue reading →

Calling a Truce: When Sports Can Make A Difference Sports are increasingly used as a tool of reconciliation, as their influence is growing throughout the world. But when it comes to concrete diplomatic issues, one may legitimately ask what sports can really offer. On the one hand, sports have sometimes served the interests of evil … Continue reading →

Sporting Revolution in Syria In September 2012, several Syrian athletes decided to distance themselves from the current regime in their country, forming the Free Syrian Athlete’s Union. Most of them were already involved in public demonstrations against the civil war occuring in Syria, but they took a step further as they announced a restructuration of … Continue reading →

Should sports and politics always mix? This article aims to give some arguments on the following debate: should sports and politics always mix? Some experts and students in sports diplomacy argue that sports should always play a role in politics. According to them, athletes together with managers and events officials should be aware and raise … Continue reading →

Our society deserves a sporting chance In a period marked by high levels of youth unemployment in many parts of Europe, Professor Grant Jarvie (University of Edimburgh) calls for the positive social contribution of sports to society overall. According to him, many studies have already shown that sports help improve the well-being and economic health … Continue reading →

Opening of a New U.S. Cultural Center in China Earlier this year, both American and Chinese academics and state officials, including First secretary Gregory 
D’Elia from the U.S. embassy in Beijing, celebrated the inauguration of the U.S.–China Center for Sport Culture Exchange. This partnership involves the Tianjin University and the University of Minnesota, which was … Continue reading →

Sports Events and Diplomacy In a highly globalized world, can big sports events such as the Olympics lead to high-level political discussions? In this article published by the Russian International Affairs Council, Dr. Tatiana Zonova shows that the meetings between U.S. President G.W. Bush and his Russian counterpart V. Putin, which were held in Beijing … Continue reading →

Sports Diplomacy: Qatar’s Growing Influence Relying on their state programs, their idols and the prestige of their competitions, Western European countries and the U.S./Canada are still leading the field of sports diplomacy. However, behind this long-time dominance, other powers are rising. For instance, Qatar is currently gaining influence in this domain. Regarding the organization of … Continue reading →

U.S. sports diplomacy’s latest target: Afghanistan The U.S. Department of State recently launched a sports diplomacy event in Afghanistan, working together with the American embassy in Kabul, the Amateur Athletic Union and the National Basketball Association’s Cares program. This four-day event, which gathered about 170 children from 10 different provinces, was aiming to train both … Continue reading →

William Gaillard used to work as Director of Communications of the UN International Drug Control Program. After joining UEFA, he worked as Director of Communication and Public Affairs, being in charge of the relations between the organization and the media, but also with the European institutions in Brussels. He was recently appointed Senior Adviser to … Continue reading →

Sport and Foreign Policy In this article, two perspectives are firstly discussed by the authors. On the one hand, the idea that sport and politics do not and should not mix; on the other hand, the idea that sport, along with culture and symbols, is marginalized from the power of politics. However, sport is just too … Continue reading →

Sport and Human Rights In this paper, Peter Donnelly highlights the fact that human rights continue to be violated in ways that are directly or indirectly related to sports. The author confronts the positive image of sport, built on principles such as fair-play and teamwork, with hard competition, based on social exclusion and sometimes used … Continue reading →

In this presentation, we provide some examples of major sports diplomacy events in the 20th and 21st century. Divided in three periods (before World War II / the Cold War period / the post-Cold War period), the case studies concentrate on international initiatives, soft power issues and civil society projects. With regard to international politics, it seems … Continue reading →

Cold War, Hot Ice: International Ice Hockey, 1947-1980 In this article, John Soares examines the tense relations between several top ice hockey national teams during the period 1947-1980. He focuses especially on the antagonism between the U.S.-Canadian couple and the USSR, but also on the antipathy shown by the Czechoslovakians towards the Soviets after the … Continue reading →

New EU funds for sport under the ‘Erasmus for All’ programme In November 2011, the European Commissioner in charge of sports, Androulla Vassiliou,  announced that sport would be set for a 238 mio € funding boost between 2014 and 2020 under the ‘Erasmus for All’ programme. This proposal still needs to get approved by the … Continue reading →

Public Diplomacy, Sports, and the Waning Influence of American Popular Culture In his analysis, Professor of Liberal Studies John Brown focuses on the weight of American popular culture on the world stage. According to him, the latter is losing its global influence. To highlight this statement, Brown uses the example of football (or soccer) and … Continue reading →

Brand Ghana’s Football Diplomacy on the Move: 2010 FIFA World Cup and Beyond Following the Black Stars’ good performance at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, football helped significantly to the rise of Ghana’s image worldwide. As such, this sport can be seen as an essential tool of soft or public diplomacy. Historically, football has always … Continue reading →

Football as a Tool of Cultural Diplomacy According to this article, footballers – especially African players – can play a real role in their country, turning football into a great tool of cultural diplomacy. With a solid international background and involvement for causes worldwide, through their role of UN Goodwill Ambassadors, they are fighting for … Continue reading →

James Taylor is the Barclays Spaces for Sports Programme Manager at The Football Foundation since 2008. He studied Physical Education at Leeds Metropolitan University. Previously, he was a Business Development Project Officer in a local trust after University. How did the cooperation between Barclays Spaces for Sports (BS4S) and your Foundation start? The Football Foundation … Continue reading →

Riza Zalameda was born in the USA and now lives in Los Angeles California. She started playing tennis at the age of five, and turned professional at fifteen. Zalameda boasts a very successful junior career. She was granted a scholarship to UCLA where she studied cultural anthropology thus becoming aware of the importance of cultural … Continue reading →

Ping-pong Diplomacy Back on Track On 21-22 November 2011, Doha hosted a unique competition, wich gathered Pakistan, India, North and South Korea, China, Japan, United States, France and Qatar. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) launched this initiative together with the Peace and Sport Foundation and the UN, as Wilfried Lemke – UN Special Adviser … Continue reading →

UNAMID Working for the Community in North Darfur  On 20th November 2011 the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) provided five secondary schools from Shouk, Al Salaam and Zamzam internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in North Darfur with sports equipment. The secondary schools are now competing in a tournament, that began on 21th November, … Continue reading →

The Slow-Pitch Ambassadors to Cuba In mid-November 2011, two teams of American softball players (23 athletes in total) played seven games against Cuban squads in the Communist island nation. The ceremonial first pitches were thrown by John Caufield, America’s top envoy in Cuba, and Gerardo Hernández, a deputy of the Cuban National Assembly. A first … Continue reading →

“Let’s Build Peace Through Sport Together” In late October 2011, several Heads of State were gathered in Monaco for the 5th Peace and Sport International Forum. On that occasion, many presidents and delegates have expressed their wish to consolidate peace through sport in their country and worldwide. For instance, H.E. Gjorge Ivanov, President of theFormer … Continue reading →

Sports and Multiculturalism from a European Perspective In this article, Ian P. Henry deals with the issues of cultural pluralism and sport. According to him, several fields of action which can help overcome intolerance and racism have already been highlighted. One can mention legislation, education, cultural policy and, obviously, sport. The latter might indeed be … Continue reading →

Official Moves to Calm India Olympics Boycott Fears One may legitimately question the use of sports as a political tool. Actually, this is one of the most sensitive issues when it comes to sports diplomacy. Is it a good mix, or should sports and diplomacy be kept completely separated? This question seems highly significant regarding … Continue reading →

The „Iron Man” as Sport Diplomat? As the latest example of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of smart power, Baseball Hall-of-Famer and Public Diplomacy Envoy Cal Ripken, Jr. and Major League Baseball standout Brady Anderson, a former center fielder with the Baltimore Orioles, travelled to Japan in November 8-16, 2011. Working as sports diplomats for the … Continue reading →

Rising powers to hold more global sporting events The location of global mega-events is currently shifting from Europe and America to non-Western countries, especially in Asia and the Middle East. Choosing hosting cities for mega sports events is always significant. On the one hand, it obviously represents a source of pride and joy for the … Continue reading →

Friendly Football Match in Haiti A recent example of using sport as a diplomatic tool comes from Haiti where a football match was held between the team of the President of the Republic and that of the United Nations for Stabilisation in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The aim of the event was to promote peace and bring … Continue reading →

Mr. Wilfried Lemke awarded the “Berlin Peace Clock” by the Berlin committee for UNESCO On November 9, 2011, the Berlin Committee for UNESCO honoured Wilfried Lemke for his commitment to the United Nations and his stunning efforts to promote international understanding and integration through sport. Mr. Lemke, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for … Continue reading →

The present report was first published in the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) Outlook 2011. The focus of this research is on sport as a tool for cultural diplomacy. Although international competitions may sometimes represent a threat to universal peace, and exacerbate tensions, most of the time sport offers its best in this context: a universal … Continue reading →

’Stop War, Start Tennis’ Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan) and Rohan Bopanna (India) play together since 2007. Later their double team was nicknamed ”The Indo-Pak Express”. In January 2011, they launched their official merchandise ’Stop War, Start Tennis’ to help promote peace through sport. (Source: atpworldtour.com)

Goodwill Ambassadors from the World of Sports include: FAO Goodwill Ambassadors Roberto Baggio (Italy), Football player Beatrice Faumuina (New Zealand), Discus Deborah Ferguson (Bahamas), Sprinter Raúl González Blanco (Spain), Football player Carl Lewis (USA), Athlete Patrick Vieira (France), Football player UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassadors Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), Football player Michael Ballack (Germany), Football player UNICEF Goodwill … Continue reading →