FIFA Foundation
The FIFA Foundation’s programmes enjoyed another year of growth and prosperity, helping to deliver the FIFA President’s 2020-2023 Vision to positively impact society through the power of football.
In 2022, FIFA played its part in achieving The Vision 2020-2023 to make football truly global, as it took the FIFA Football for Schools Programme to all six confederations.
At the time of publication, 32 of FIFA’s 211 member associations had successfully implemented the FIFA Football for Schools Programme. Following FIFA Legend Yakubu Ayegbeni’s visit to Tonga to witness the programme’s local launch, it is now also active across all six confederations.
Before Tonga, several other member associations joined the movement in 2022, including Paraguay in South America, Belize and Costa Rica in Central America, France in Europe, Djibouti and Côte d'Ivoire in Africa, and Guam and Indonesia in Asia.
In total, 23 Football for Schools activities were organised across the globe and 54 member associations received preliminary training at one of five regional seminars.
Football For Schools aims to promote the development and empowerment of close to 700 million children around the world. The programme is now overseen by the FIFA Secretary General’s Office and will continue to grow and prosper in 2023.
FIFA Foundation partners with key players in Qatar
In March, FIFA Foundation is teamed up with the Qatar Foundation and Generation Amazing to deliver a range of football initiatives that go beyond the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ to empower young people and the community of Qatar.
The announcements came during the Doha Forum, where the FIFA Foundation signed agreements with the Qatar Foundation and the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy’s Generation Amazing Foundation.
The entities agreed to work together to roll out the FIFA Football for Schools Programme across Qatar. The initiative, run by FIFA in collaboration with UNESCO, works to contribute to the education, development and empowerment of hundreds of millions of children around the world, and seeks to make the sport more accessible to both boys and girls around the world by incorporating football activities into the education system.
Speaking after the signing, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: “It is with great pleasure that today the FIFA Foundation officially partners with Generation Amazing and the Qatar Foundation. To be able to positively impact society through the power of football is a shared goal and responsibility between each of our organisations, and using sport to reach the next generation is something all three place at the forefront of everything they do. We look forward to working together over the coming months and years in many common projects, and particularly to deliver Football for Schools in Qatar.”
FIFA Foundation joins UPL Ltd. for European launch of Gigaton Carbon Goal
In July 2022, and following the successful launch in South America, the FIFA Foundation joined UPL Ltd. for the European launch of the Gigaton Carbon Goal, an ambitious plan aimed at reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide by one gigaton (one billion tonnes) by 2040 through more sustainable farming methods.
The FIFA Foundation was represented at the launch in Paris by its Executive Chairman, the former President of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, and FIFA Legends Louis Saha and Didier Drogba, former internationals for France and Côte d’Ivoire, respectively.
“At the FIFA Foundation, our mission is simple but very powerful: we want to use football to make a positive impact on people’s lives,” said Mr Macri, who is also a former president of Boca Juniors.
“Sustainable development and education are our two main priorities. We believe that, through football, we can promote and raise awareness of any issue that helps make the world a better place.”
“By joining forces, we are trying to contribute to protecting the environment and improving the lives of millions of people globally. It is through collaboration, and collective action, that we will achieve our aims.”
FIFA’s ongoing commitment to the Gigaton Carbon Goal is part of its contribution to tackling climate change. FIFA’s climate strategy, unveiled last year, includes a commitment to reduce football’s emissions and contribute to achieving the global goals with a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, and carbon neutrality by 2040, as per the goals established in the Paris Agreement in 2015.
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FIFA Foundation promotes football as a social tool
In May 2022, the FIFA Foundation, through its Community Programme, visited the Golitos Foundation, which helps children with autism through football.
Representatives of the FIFA Foundation, which provides financial support to Golitos through its Community Programme, participated in one of the organisation’s specially organised sessions.
The sessions focused on harnessing the power of football to develop social skills, and reduce restrictive and repetitive behaviours, cognitive delays, motor impairments as well as the social and communication difficulties that can affect those with autism.
During the visit, FIFA Foundation delegates also visited schools already implementing the FIFA Football for Schools Programme. Football for Schools was first launched as a pilot programme in Puerto Rico in 2019 and has since gone on to reach every corner of the globe.