For most Qataris, the world's most watched sporting event represents a chance to offer a new image of their homeland and the wider Middle East. "This is not just for Qatar, but for the whole region," Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, wife of the country's ruler, told Reuters in an interview.

Every town in every country in Africa is home to at least one makeshift soccer field, the game is more than just a sport, it is part of daily life. In the lead up to the World Cup, photographers traveled from Egypt to Kenya, Nigeria to Ghana, capturing soccer lovers around the continent.

As a major emerging economy and the host of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, Brazil is keen to present the country as more than about soccer, samba, and carnivals. Pavilion Director Pedro Wendler discusses the country’s positioning and communication at Shanghai Expo.

Beyond Soccer …

This year, team USA's strong performance in the World Cup inspired Americans to follow the sport in record numbers. Now that the sport has our notice, there is a good reason for us to keep paying attention. Believe it or not, that little black and white ball might just be the key to winning the peace in Iraq.

Hassan Al Thawadi is chief executive for the Qatar 2022 bid...Qatar is one of the most prosperous countries in the world, with gas and oil reserves and has futuristic plans for the 2022 finals.

As host of the most-watched sporting event on earth, South Africa set out to reinvent itself in the eyes of the world, casting off its reputation as a place defined by violent crime, poverty and AIDS.

Football fanatics have been arriving in South Africa from around the globe for the past several weeks. But, the African continent has its own share of pitch specialists...

Kashmiri Muslim separatists have been fighting for two decades for independence from India or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan.