sports diplomacy
The Blue Samurai, Japan’s national soccer team, will be fighting their way through this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament with the help of one of the world’s most recognizable characters. Adidas announced on Saturday that Pikachu, everyone’s favorite electrifying mouse-like creature, will be joined by 10 other Pokemon to cheer on the boys in blue.
Join CPD for a discussion on how a hypothetical joint bid could influence this crucial bilateral relationship with Arturo Sarukhan (Former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., CPD Distinguished Fellow) and Michael Govan (CEO & Director, LACMA).
In this video, the U.S. Consulate in Karachi hosted a football clinic for local schoolgirls. Sports diplomacy has become an integral tool in building relationships between the U.S. and other nations. U.S. Consulate General Michael Dodman states, “This program is about two things, the things that bring us together as a culture which is the love of sports and to help improve the skills of the children of Karachi.”
Young Hondurans love soccer and wanted to play on a field in Chamelecon. But the field and its surrounding areas had become a dumping ground for dead bodies by gang members in a country with one of the world’s highest homicide rates.
Join CPD for a discussion with Ambassador Sarukhan and Michael Govan on 4/26.
Members of the Russian parliament have written to FIFA asking it to consider excluding Jurgen Klinsmann’s USA team from the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil. Alexander Sidyakin and Michael Markelov, two members of the Duma, addressed their concern about the “U.S.’s military aggression against several sovereign states” and named Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya and Syria among those suffering from U.S. aggression.
While successful people-to-people diplomacy always requires hard work and creativity, a little star power never hurts. So when recently-retired Major League Baseball great Ken Griffey, Jr. joined 2004 Olympic softball gold medalist Natasha Watley to serve as State Department sports envoys for “Diamond Diplomacy” activities in Mexico City from February 28 to March 4, the program was destined to sparkle.
Palestinian schoolchildren in the village of Kafr Sur in Tulkarem this week received footballs from Spanish giant FC Barcelona. The balls are apparently replacements for those lost over the separation fence between the West Bank and Israel over the years, the Guardian reported. A Spanish journalist, Anna Alba, who spoke about the “gift” said she hoped that it would encourage other teams to come to the area and support local athletes.