Sports has the power to unite the world like little else or so proves a documentary on the UAE fotoball team. The Emirates Diplomatic Academy, as part of its Culture Week, screened Lights of Rome - a documentary on the incredible journey of the UAE's national football team to 1990 Fifa World Cup Italy. The heroics of the Golden Generation of footballers in 1990 placed the UAE on the world map and also provided a glimpse of the progress the country was set to make in future. More importantly, the world stage provided an opportunity to showcase the Emirati culture and promote the country.

Recent news from North Korea has focused on missile launches and nuclear tests. But when it comes to diplomacy, there may be a lesson from history – and sports. Asia Pacific Management consultant Ray Tsuchiyama shares some thoughts in this commentary. [...] Sports makes friends.  Like 1971’s Ping-Pong diplomacy, let’s give soccer a chance to create a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula.

American and Cameroonian soldiers come from entirely separate parts of the world with distinct cultural differences. [...] a 101st Airborne Division-led unit based in northern Cameroon, built a basketball court with freshly painted lines and hoops weighed down by concrete blocks next to an active runway. They then invited Cameroon service members from the local area for a basketball game to help foster better cohesion.

Mexico and the United States enjoy one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world today, with profound implications for the prosperity, well-being and security of both nations. No country touches the daily lives of more Americans than Mexico, and no country touches the daily lives of more Mexicans than the United States. In the more than two decades since NAFTA’s approval, our two countries have been converging as societies and as economies.

In 2016, New Zealand and the Philippines celebrated 50 years of good diplomatic relations with a series of activities that included sports events, seeing how such is a good platform to bring people together. And taking cue from it, the two countries recently engaged in another session of sports diplomacy with a couple of rugby matches. [...] “Rugby is a huge part of New Zealand culture. We are delighted to see how much rugby has grown in the Philippines,”