The announcement comes amid talks by Washington and Havana to work toward the restoration of diplomatic relations between the former Cold War foes. The Cuban and Cosmos teams conducted their own negotiations in January, during a CONCACAF Under-20 tournament in Jamaica.

Papers are exuberant over an ambitious state plan to help China's football team qualify for the World Cup. The plan hopes to make the sport more popular in the country to attract young talent. The council also wants the country to host the World Cup tournament in the future.

In a world in which diplomacy has expanded from government-to-government contacts into public and cultural diplomacy and in which nations are ranked as much on their performance in high-profile international tournaments as on other attributes, autocratic abuse of sports and its impact on soccer, including performance, is nowhere more prevalent than in the Middle East and North Africa.

Given the troubled history between South and North Korea, it's difficult to imagine that the sides marched under the same flag at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The unified marches, also held at the Sydney and Athens Games, fell in line with a reconciliatory mood on the peninsula as well as the idea that, in the words of the late Nelson Mandela, sport "has the power to change the world."

While turmoil and unrest continue in the Middle East, a group of Palestinians and Israelis have united in peace and found common ground -- on a soccer field. Goals of Peace 2014 Summer Camp took place from Sunday to Wednesday in the Wadi Ara region of Israel, according to a press release. About 80 kids, ages 11 to 13, participated in soccer scrimmages, field trips and educational programming while engaging in peaceful dialogue. 

Qatar’s World Cup organizers view this ground as a blank canvas for a new era in the Middle East, a way to advance their society and use soft power—i.e., the world’s most popular sport—to promote the country’s foreign policy.