Game soldier from abroad occupying areas, offering defence (8)
I believe the answer is:
apologia
'defence' is the definition.
(apologia is a kind of defence)
'game soldier from abroad occupying areas' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'game' could be 'polo' (polo is a kind of game) and 'polo' is found within the answer.
'soldier' could be 'gi' (term for US soldier) and 'gi' is present in the answer.
'areas' could be 'aa' (two abbreviations for area) and 'aa' is present in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'offering' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for apologia that I've seen before include "Personal written defence" , "Formal defence of belief or conduct" , "Written defence of one's conduct" , "form of defence" , "Formal defence of one's conduct" .)