On a spring morning in late September, a conference room in Auckland filled with an unusually diverse mix of people: diplomats and officials sat alongside athletes, sport executives, and Indian government representatives.

It was here that Minister Chris Bishop launched New Zealand’s first-ever Sport Diplomacy Strategy 2025–2030, formally positioning sport as a tool of foreign policy, trade, investment, and international engagement. For a country that consistently punches above its weight on the world stage, the strategy signals a shift from an instinctive use of sport offshore to a more deliberate, coordinated approach.

The timing matters. With Brisbane set to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Asia–Pacific region is entering a decade of heightened sporting attention and investment. Australia has already released a sport diplomacy strategy looking beyond 2040. New Zealand’s strategy, more compact in scope, focuses on the next five years: a critical window to build capability, deepen relationships, and secure opportunities in priority markets.

At its core, the strategy reflects New Zealand’s realities. We are geographically distant, relatively small, and operate a highly specialised but resource-constrained high-performance sport system. Yet the results speak for themselves: Paris 2024 delivered New Zealand’s most successful Olympic and Paralympic campaign to date. The challenge now is how to translate sporting excellence into broader national benefit.

Unlike the heavily politicised sport diplomacy headlines dominating global news — from Saudi Arabia’s investments in football and golf to Australia’s AUD 600 million rugby league deal with Papua New Guinea — New Zealand’s approach is pragmatic. With fewer resources and a smaller GDP, the emphasis is on leveraging sport to support trade, investment, and relationships, particularly in the United States, India, and across the Pacific, where development and capability-building remain central.

That approach has already been visible in practice. During Minister Bishop’s visit to Chicago in early November, the All Blacks’ test match against Ireland became the backdrop for networking between business leaders, investors, and political stakeholders. New Zealand Rugby provided an entry point for the government to leverage the country’s global sporting identity, marketing New Zealand offshore for the benefit of th