When I hear ‘sports diplomacy’ evoked in conversation I often wince, knowing that 99% of the examples do not live up to the standards of the term. Athletes and coaches who work for a team outside of their country for no purpose other than for a love of the game and personal gain do not always qualify.

The State Department, like the rest of America, has its eyes fixed on the London Olympics. But officials there aren’t just rooting for Team USA — they’re also looking for new recruits. Today’s gold medalists, after all, are tomorrow’s sports diplomats.

We run a comprehensive mdia impact analysis of the positive benefits for South Africa for perfectly organizing the FIFA World Cup 2010. We also monitored in that study the extraordinary positive impact for the image of Spain as country champion of the competition.

But the crown prince and princess too are part of the soft power strategy of Spain. That was why they were in New York, part of a quiet tour of the U.S. northeast.... in the party in the Cervantes institute were a select audience susceptible to their brand of royalty: prominent leaders of the Hispanic community in the U.S., an audience well aware of their own historical links to Spain on various levels...

President Ma Ying-jeou has successfully added a new dimension to his state visit to African allies with “sport diplomacy” that will further cement bilateral relationships..While in The Gambia, President Ma faced down another sports challenge...leading Taiwan past The Gambia 4-3 in a soccer penalty kick shootout at a local junior high school built with financial aid from Taiwan.

...There can be no doubt that chipolopolo’s victory is a victory for Southern Africa and in that respect the region also feels and owns the Africa Cup." Chipolopolo’s triumph has significantly enhanced Zambia’s visibility everywhere in the European communities as a major tool for the country’s public diplomacy with rave reviews in the media.

In parallel, sport is simultaneously being used to boost participation in sport amongst the population, improve health and lifestyles, promote social cohesion, enable the generation of country branding opportunities, and provide the basis for international networking and political influence.

More than just being an element of post-Cold War soft power or as part of a country’s diplomatic strategy, a closer study into the game of football throws up several important characteristics that could inform our understanding of the political paradigm of the ASEAN community and its relations with the rest of the world.