The article discusses the practice of sport diplomacy in the context of the implementation of the "soft power" strategy by the states during the XX-XXI centuries. A special attention was paid to the main leader in updating the sports discourse in domestic and foreign policy in the specified period - Germany. The author notes that the appeal to the tool of sports diplomacy in historical retrospect was unfolding in two completely opposite contexts: the management of sports policy as a "tough" form of demonstrating the country's power and political influence (Germany from 1890 to 1989, the USSR) and a real friendly sports " complicity "to peacekeeping, which is part of the public policy of states (S. Korea, Japan, modern Russia and Germany). The author pays special attention to "apolitical" sports diplomacy, patronized by public associations and other institutions of civil society.