There is still a war to end and yet Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin still found time to talk sport during their call on the fate of Ukraine.
According to the Kremlin, the leaders of the US and Russia discussed pitting their hockey stars against each other.
Staging battles on ice might not seem a priority or an obvious move to thaw tensions between the nations.
But fostering a climate of cooperation would be progress – bringing rivals together when so many sporting events have banned Russia’s teams entirely.
Mr Trump’s call with Mr Putin
And it is another chance for Mr Trump and Mr Putin to harness the symbolism and soft power of sport as a tool of diplomacy.
Mr Putin tried to reshape Russia’s image by staging the 2014 Winter Olympics and the men’s 2018 World Cup before becoming global outcasts with the full-scale invasion on Ukraine in 2022.
Sport could ease Russia’s re-entry into the global community, especially if Mr Trump is keen for Russia to be part of the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics on his turf.
And there is a playbook to attempt peace-making through sport.
China’s Li Fu-Yeng, left, returns ball to US team member Fuarnado Roberts during series of good-will matches between the US and China at Nassau Coliseum in 1972. Pic: AP
Ping Pong diplomacy
In the early 1970s, Ping Pong diplomacy was credited with breaking the ice between China and the US after an exchange of table tennis players between the nations.
It paved the way to President Richard Nixon’s visit to Beijing.
The template for sports exchanges has been replicated on the Korean Peninsula.
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North-South table tennis teams have been tried while their countries are still technically at war.
Athletes from the neighbours have even marched behind a unification flag at major events, as recently as 2018 at the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics staged by the South in Pyeonchang.
Those Games also saw a combined women’s ice hockey team.
But the break in tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul proved largely symbolically fleeting as the North persists with a nuclear programme.
Former Indian PM Singh, left, and former Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani, applaud the players, prior to the start of the Cricket World Cup semi-final match between Pakistan and India in Mohali.
Pic: AP
Cricket diplomacy
India and Pakistan have often tried to use their shared affection for cricket to build bridges.
There was the time in 2011 the prime ministers of the nuclear-armed adversaries stood side by side and applauded each other’s national anthems at a World Cup match.
Former Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani and former Indian PM Manmohan Singh greet the players ahead of the Cricket World Cup semi-final in 2011. Pic: AP
But the countries still only play each other if a competition draw forces them together.
And there has been an even tougher stance from India’s current nationalist government led by Narendra Modi, with a refusal to play in Pakistan while its neighbour hosted the recent men’s Champions Trophy.
India instead played its matches in the UAE.
But there is still a hope the fervour for cricket can show what bonds the nations rather than persisting with a bitter territorial dispute.
Francios Pienaar receives the Rugby World Cup from Nelson Mandela. Pic: AP
Rugby reconciliation
Sometimes it can all come together through sport with the perfect result at the perfect time. Achieving national unity in one match that’s been sought for decades.
South Africa’s post-apartheid transformation was symbolised when they won the 1995 Rugby World Cup on home soil.
Nelson Mandela walks past Francois Pienaar in the line up before the Rugby World Cup final in Johannesburg’s Ellis Park.
Pic: PA
A Johannesburg crowd chanted Nelson Mandela’s name as the president wore the Springbok emblem so previously hated by black South Africans.
This racial reconciliation was portrayed in the film Invictus.
Ivory Coast
In 2005, when Ivory Coast qualified for the World Cup for the first time, Didier Drogba made an impromptu televised speech pleading for an end to the civil war.
“We proved today that all Ivorians can coexist and play together with a shared aim,” he implored on the microphone in the dressing room.
It is credited with eventually helping to end the violence, resonating with a divided nation swept up by footballing emotions.
And that desire to use football to foster a culture of unity and reconciliation was reinforced in 2007 when a national team match was moved to be played in a rebel stronghold.
An athlete holding a flag stands next to a pillar with writing on it during the Olympic Truce event.
Pic: Reuters
The Olympic Truce
There is the ideal that hostilities are halted during the Olympics and Paralympics and athletes are granted safe passage.
The Olympic Truce – introduced by a UN resolution – is well-intentioned but with no consequences for breaking it. Russia has violated it by invading Georgia (2008), Crimea (2014) and Ukraine fully (2022) – while never accepting that.
Mr Trump poses with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in 2018. Pic: Reuters
Nobel peace
Sepp Blatter was thought to covet the Nobel Peace Prize while FIFA president and his successor, Gianni Infantino, has the same desire to claim football as the world’s only unifying force.
There was an attempt to add Qatar’s neighbours to the 2022 World Cup hosting during a period of diplomatic tensions.
Those plans collapsed but he has often floated the possibility of bringing the Middle East together through the tournament watched by billions.
“Even though there are complicated or difficult diplomatic relations, when it comes to football people talk to each other,” Mr Infantino once said.
But FIFA will have to navigate the 2026 World Cup while main host the United States has president Trump waging a trade war on junior tournament partners Canada and Mexico.
