What does the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and space politics have to do with each other? Quite a lot and it demonstrates China’s ability to mix sport and politics in their national self-promotion, writes senior analyst Stanis Elsborg.

Can soccer play an independent role in bringing nations together, asks James M. Dorsey in this article that discusses sport’s ability to build bridges and turn foes into friends.

After what is surely the longest wait of any country that has actually applied to join one of FIFA’s six confederations, the Gibraltar Football Association were today - 14 years after first applying – accepted into UEFA.

The Ukrainian government had high hopes that co-hosting the Euro 2012 would be Ukraine’s European coming out party. For now, the tournament remains a PR disaster, highlighting mostly corruption scandals and political turmoil, writes Ukraine-based journalist Mark Rachkevych in his second of two articles on Ukraine’s Euro 2012 preparations.

New ruling from CAS on Gibraltar’s application for UEFA membership could have an impact on FIFA and UEFA policy on aspiring football federations. New documents from FIFA’s Working Group on Small Nations show how potential member federations from small nations and independent territories are prioritized.

Sports federations are increasingly fed up with the way that athletes are affected by the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The IOC as well as UEFA are applying pressure on Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinian athletes. And in Iran, there is simmering resistance against the government's policy that Iranian athletes can not compete against athletes from Israel.

The party is over and the World Cup has left South Africa, and generally the reviews have been very good. FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, praised South Africa’s efforts in hosting this year’s World Cup by giving them nine out of 10.

There were many who believed – and hoped – that the U.S. would do well in this year's FIFA World Cup. The U.S. has good results to show for the last couple of years (finals in the Gold Cup and the Confederations Cup) and it is the third best team in the Americas (14th in FIFA rankings).