Soccer could provide a vehicle to improve China’s soft power and succeed where previous attempts have struggled. [...] There are two standout advantages soccer has over other mediums of soft power for China. One is football’s global resonance and accessibility. [...]  Another plus is that relative to the arts or education, there is less opportunity for the product to be diminished due to interference from the state as soccer does not actively communicate a message beyond the realm of sport. 

On Tuesday, UEFA finally rubber-stamped Kosovo's full membership in the European football family, marking the end of a journey that began in earnest almost 25 years ago, when a handful of rebels split from the game in federal Yugoslavia and started their own football league in the mud and marshes of this embattled Balkan republic.

“What our players and what the Cuban players ... did in those six days did more for government relations between our two countries than has been done in the last 40 years by the governments,” Little League baseball coach Jim Carter said.[...] They spent their April spring break in Havana, learning about Cuba’s intense passion for baseball, seeing cultural and historic sights, getting to meet some of Cuba’s best professional baseball players, making new friends despite language barriers and playing baseball against local teams.

[...] When Popole Misenga started training for his Olympic judo team he was, well, too ferocious [...] The Congolese judoka is pushing to compete in the Rio Olympics this August as part of the Games' first stateless team […] As a child of the Democratic Republic of Congo's 1998-2003 war, which killed millions and left many more homeless, the 24-year-old has been hardened by terror, hunger, and desperation.

On Anzac Day this year, like every other year, sports will take centre stage. With the traditional blockbuster clashes in NRL and in AFL drawing the attention of a large number of the population, a day to commemorate war has become, for many, a day at the footy. Some might question the link between sport and war. But, the connections are actually well-established and they point to how sport can be used as a tool for peace and development, particularly by Australia.

Last October, President Xi visited the National Football Museum during his state visit to the UK. Moore recounted the cultural exchange: “I gave to the President as a gift from the National Football Museum a copy of the hand- written laws from 1863, and he gave me a gift of a replica Cuju ball.”

China's economic growth has begun to flatten out, so it has sought to evolve from manufacturing to service. And professional soccer [...] is a service. In a country newly rich and besotted by Western luxury goods, the sport has become a paradigm of sorts for embracing and importing foreign commodities. Only in this case, those commodities aren't yachts or Ivy League educations, but rather soccer players.