Generation Amazing

Generation Amazing (GA) is a human and social legacy programme initiated in 2010, during Qatar’s successful bid for the FIFA World Cup 2022™. Through its football for development programme and strategic partnerships with national and international organisations, GA aims to inspire and empower the next generation of youth to contribute to long-lasting social development. The strategic direction of GA is guided by the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

GA uses a football for development (F4D) approach – a unique football training on and off the pitch, teaching principles such as gender equality and inclusivity, and life skills such as communication, organisation, teamwork and leadership. The ultimate objective of GA is to positively impact one million lives through football for development outreach and education by 2022.

Link to video: Generation Amazing Stories – The Power of Football

In Qatar, the GA F4D programme has been very successful in educating coaches, engaging schools, empowering beneficiaries and giving back to the workers involved in building infrastructure for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

Recent key partnerships with the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) aim to expand the programme footprint by an additional 22 countries by 2022.

A joint project between CONCACAF and GA aims to train football coaches and promote the development of grassroots football. Through the delivery of educational courses and football for social change programmes, numerous coaches, thousands of youth and the local communities across all 41 CONCACAF member associations stand to benefit.

With the IFRC, GA implements projects located in Iraq, Myanmar, Uganda and Argentina. The projects aim to help vulnerable and excluded youth in developing essential life skills and leadership attributes.

GA’s annual Youth Advocate Programme aims to empower youth to become community leaders and to spread social change. Several workshops are offered to develop inter-cultural competencies, communication skills, peer-to-peer mentoring relationships and team-building skills. As of December 2021, the programme had 115 participants and during 2020, 15 youth from Qatar embarked on mentorship journeys. Previous participants, hailing from the Middle East and Asia, have helped to facilitate social change in their communities by assisting with football training, workshops and festivals.

Other GA programmes include a partnership with the Qatar Foundation’s Ability Friendly Programme. The Ability Friendly Programme provides sporting opportunities for disabled children and youth with special needs.

GA successfully addressed the challenges to its activities stemming from the global COVID-19 pandemic. Two Golden Bridge Awards were awarded to the GA online programmes, which engaged over 26 million people. These live engagement sessions covered topics including the role of sport, learning about sport diplomacy, teamwork and collaboration, and included home workouts.

The GA Youth Festival is an annual event designed to celebrate ‘Football 4 Good’, with an emphasis on social development through youth participation and promotion of core values such as gender equality & social inclusion.

GA Festival 2019 was held alongside the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019™ and focused around the theme of ‘Inclusion’. More than 170 youth from 12 countries attended the event.

GA Festival 2020, under the theme 'Connectedness', was held virtually and was attended by 700+ youth from over 50 countries.

Under the theme ALL IN, GA Festival 2021 was hosted alongside the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021™. The Festival was attended by a diverse group of young leaders that represented participating nations in the FIFA Arab Cup 2021™ with over 200 local and international youth.

Looking beyond 2022, GA will continue working to empower future generations to change the world for the better.