%0 Journal Article %T El deporte en el campo diplom¨¢tico: el caso de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA Sud¨¢frica 2010 %A Carre£¿o Lara %A Eduardo %J Estudios Pol¨ªticos %D 2012 %I Universidad de Antioquia %X for over forty years, the soccer was considered in south africa an important scenario in the struggle for freedom, obtaining the anti-apartheid movement symbolic, but crucial achievements in this sphere when the local federation was suspended by fifa from all international competitions until 1992. once democracy, the soccer -like other sports- has been considered an instance of encounter and reconciliation in a society marked by racial cleavages, thus awarding the fifa world cup was hailed by the south africa's people and the african continent as a great victory that raised expectations about the benefits of this event to improve the quality of life for millions of people. therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyze the political, economical and social motivations behind the organization of fifa world cup south africa 2010. it is an explanatory study supported by the review of secondary sources and official data provided by the south african government aimed at estimating the diplomatic implications of an event that clearly surpassed the purely sporting. %K south africa %K foreign policy %K fifa %K world cup %K soccer and politics. %U http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0121-51672012000200009&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en