New England Patriot’s owner Robert Kraft is in Israel this week along with 19 NFL Hall of Fame football stars as part of a special solidarity mission with the Jewish state.

“Touchdown in Israel: Mission of Excellence” is being sponsored by the Jewish billionaire, the first trip of its kind specific to former Pro Football Hall of Famers, ESPN reported.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong on Sunday called for more "basketball diplomacy" activities to strengthen mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.

Liu made the appeal during a visit to NBA basketball team Houston Rockets' home field Toyota Center, where a group of Chinese student athletes from Tsinghua High School are working on a basketball training program.

She said sports are an important part in people-to-people exchanges, which have played a unique and significant role in China-U.S. ties.

At first glance, the 42 teenage boys going through drills and playing supervised pick-up games at Our Lady of the Lake University’s Mabee Gym appear to be cogs in the never-ending prep basketball machine. Clinics, fall leagues, AAU summer tournaments and camps such as this one fill the void between high school seasons. While many of the campers are from San Antonio and the Hill Country, others are from Romania, Macedonia and Kosovo.

American wrestler Jacob Curby died before he could fulfill his dream of competing in the Olympics. But a competition established in his name will mark another milestone in the accelerating sports diplomacy between Iran and the United States.

Swapping the lush green soccer fields of Australia for the arid dusty plains of Kenya, Adelaide United star Awer Mabil will make the long journey back to his birthplace at the Kakuma refugee camp to deliver hundreds of pairs of soccer boots and sports gear to children. Mabil said he was prompted to contribute in some way to the lives of the 180,000 refugees living in Kakuma after returning to visit last year and seeing scores of children playing soccer barefoot in the dirt.

“It will blow over” tends to be Qatar’s unofficial response to criticism of its World Cup bid, but with a FIFA corruption scandal exploding onto the world’s front pages, the Gulf state has glumly realised it may have a real fight on its hands.

Super-rich Qatar would suffer no economic pain if it lost the right to host the world’s top soccer event. At stake is influence, including its use of sport as a platform to operate on the global stage, opening doors to finance, media, diplomacy, property and tourism.

When a Palestinian motion to expel Israel from international soccer was scrapped last week at the 11th hour by the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials hailed the results as a victory for Israeli public diplomacy. “Our international effort proved itself and brought about the failure of the effort of the Palestinian Authority,” Netanyahu said of the push headed by former Palestinian Gen.