Days after attacks on African students in Greater Noida, a group of Indian and African students came together for a friendly football match on Friday at Sharda University. The 90-minute match was played between two teams, Chancellor's 11 and Embassy 11, which had the same composition - four students from Africa, one each from Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam and Afghanistan, and three from India.

Set for March 25, the game – Kosovo against Iceland – is part of the first round of qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. But it is much more than a simple football match. Sports diplomacy has been the most successful strategy implemented by Kosovo to garner international recognition. It’s been nine years since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, after Kosovo Albanians sought independence during the Yugoslavian wars. 

Football’s global centre of gravity is shifting eastwards as countries in Asia strategically focus on the sport’s development. As I’ve previously noted, in this Football 3.0 Qatar and China are playing an essential role in the sport’s ‘Asianisation’. For several years, Qatar stood alone in its ambitious, lavishly resourced pursuit of football success (most potently symbolised by the 2022 World Cup). 

The English Premier League recently signed its biggest deal outside of the U.K. Chinese electronics giant Suning has stumped up £560m for the television rights to broadcast its games to the growing legion of fans there. But it’s not just the size of the agreement that’s eye-catching. It’s a double display of soft power at work: by both China and the U.K.

The English Premier League recently signed its biggest deal outside of the UK. Chinese electronics giant Suning has stumped up £560m for the television rights to broadcast its games to the growing legion of fans there. But it’s not just the size of the agreement that’s eye-catching. It’s a double display of soft power at work: by both China and the UK.

Since we do not have the money to compete with China and with the strong nations of Asia, we must use "football diplomacy" with our European and Latin America will be more than willing to help the Philippines to hold its own in the football arena of Asia.