Media release

Carlos Marchena inaugurates a new football pitch in Cañada Real district

Children and young people from the Cañada Real district of Madrid, known as one of Spain’s most economically disadvantaged areas, now have a new safe place to play sport. The UEFA Foundation for Children and FedEx, the main sponsor of the UEFA Europa League, have given a new football pitch to the Red Deporte y Cooperación, a Madrid-based non-profit organisation that is part of the streetfootballworld network, with the aim of using football to drive social change.

Carlos Marchena, the former Spanish international and European and world champion, took part in today’s inauguration ceremony and joined a training session, to the delight of the children present. The brand-new, fully functional pitch is environmentally sustainable and was built in less than a week. It is equipped with floodlighting and changing facilities, and its innovative and modular design has many advantages, including low running costs.

Pascal Torres, general secretary of the UEFA Foundation for Children, said: “It is clear how powerful a tool football can be in uniting communities, and playing football provides an ideal opportunity for children from different backgrounds to integrate, learn and develop. We are delighted that FedEx shares our vision of extending access to football to all, and that by working together we have enabled thousands of children from this diverse community to play and grow together, safely.”

The pitch strengthens the already solid portfolio of the UEFA Foundation for Children, which has recently celebrated its first anniversary. The foundation acted as a facilitator and coordinator, while streetfootballworld, the global non-profit network, developed, managed and implemented the project.

FedEx, the world’s largest express transportation company, provided financial assistance as part of FedEx Cares, a $200m programme aimed at creating opportunities in more than 200 communities by 2020.

Brenda McWilliams-Piatek, vice-president of marketing and communications for FedEx Express Europe, said: “At FedEx, we are absolutely committed to investing socially in the markets where we operate, and this project is an excellent example from our global ‘delivering for good’ programme of how we use our resources and network to provide local communities with access to facilities that would otherwise be out of their reach.”

The UEFA Foundation for Children hopes that this marks the beginning of a sustained collaboration with FedEx.

For more information on FedEx, visit www.fedex.com

To find out more about the work of streetfootballworld, visit http://www.streetfootballworld.org/

UEFA foundation and FedEx to create an unforgettable experience for disadvantaged children

Around 200 children from communities in England, Spain and Switzerland are being given the thrill of a lifetime thanks to the UEFA Foundation for Children, FedEx Express and streetfootballworld – the youngsters will watch the exciting climax to this season’s UEFA Europa League live, and attend the teams’ pre-match training sessions.

This is the first collaboration between a sponsor of UEFA and UEFA Children’s Foundation. The programme kicks off at tonight’s UEFA Europa League semi-final second-leg encounters, and will continue at the final at St. Jakob-Park in Basel, Switzerland, on 18 May. At each match, 22 children aged between seven and nine will be living a magic moment, walking out onto the pitch alongside the players as their escorts.

FedEx, the world’s largest express transportation company, is the main sponsor of the UEFA Europa League, and has donated its entire allocation of player escort places at these important matches to the UEFA Foundation for Children, with both organisations working in conjunction with streetfootballworld, the global non-profit network that uses football to drive social change.

The UEFA Foundation for Children, founded just over a year ago, aims to help children and safeguard their rights. Sport, and football in particular, can provide support in the areas of health and education, as well as promoting access to sporting activity, facilitating children’s personal development and fostering the integration of minorities.

Community football teams have been identified from semi-finalist cities Liverpool and Seville, alongside UEFA Europa League final host city Basel. The teams all work with children from disadvantaged backgrounds and use education, support and development through football to give the youngsters a better chance in life.

At the match between Liverpool FC and Villarreal CF, Street League has nominated children from disadvantaged areas of Liverpool who participate in its football-based programmes, while Red Deporte y Cooperación has nominated children from Seville who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds for the match between Sevilla FC and FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

“The UEFA Foundation for Children is delighted to be involved in this splendid initiative,” said the chairman of the foundation’s board of trustees, José Manuel Durão Barroso. “Football has an important role to play as a social force and to captivate its youngest enthusiasts. The opportunity for these children to meet top football stars, lead them onto the pitch before thousands of fans and watch the action unfold as spectators will give them not only a great sense of pride, but also an experience that will forever remain in their hearts and memories.”

“The UEFA Europa League offers us the unique ability to connect with communities across Europe,” added Brenda McWilliams-Piatek, FedEx Express’s European marketing vice-president, “and this player escort programme will deliver a truly memorable experience for children from those communities that would otherwise have been out of their reach. We are delighted to be able to give something back to fans that can genuinely make a difference to their lives, and is also a first for sponsorship in the sport.”

“We’re so excited to give this experience to some of the children we work with and thankful to the UEFA Foundation for Children and FedEx for delivering us the opportunity,” said Vladimir Borkovic, streetfootballworld network director and chief operating officer. “Many of the young people in our schemes come from disadvantaged backgrounds, so we try to use football to empower and inspire them to help change their lives.”

The UEFA Foundation for Children strengthens its commitment to defending the rights of vulnerable children worldwide

The UEFA Foundation for Children’s decision-making body, the board of trustees chaired by former European Commission president José Manuel Durão Barroso, held its latest meeting yesterday at the Foundation’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

The meeting agenda included a review of all current ongoing projects, followed by the ratification of new initiatives to be added to the Foundation’s portfolio in the coming months. The amount of €1.1m will be invested in new projects to be implemented on three continents over a period of several years.

Selected initiatives meet the following criteria: correspondence with the Foundation’s statutes; credibility of the partner organisations; presentation of a viable budget with local partners; and viability of the activities.

The meeting saw the Foundation commit financial support to eight new projects:

• Establishment of a media library for street children in Ziguinchor (Senegal) in partnership with the Bibliothèque sans Frontière association. This initiative aims to facilitate access to education for street children, in particular young girls involved in child labour. Some 7,500 children are expected to benefit from this apprenticeship tool.
• Health and social integration through sport in Ireland: This initiative, which comes under the patronage of the John Giles Foundation, aims to promote sporting activities within disadvantaged communities in Ireland; prevent obesity and social exclusion; and help to strengthen club structures and local entities, in order to foster the social integration of vulnerable sectors of the population.
• Improvement of living conditions of street children in Luanda (Angola): This project, an initiative of SAMU International in partnership with the Arnold Janssen Centre, aims to improve and facilitate access to basic social services for children and young people living on the streets in Luanda. Another objective of this project is to develop socio-sporting activities by making football a support activity. UNICEF estimates that 5,000 children and young people live on the streets of Luanda.
• A programme tackling social exclusion in Burkina Faso: This programme, organised by SAMU International, aims to combat the social exclusion of street children, and seeks to help them get off the streets through family assistance and professional training. UNICEF estimates that 3,500 children live on the streets of Ouagadougou.

• Raising awareness of the dangers of mines, and awareness of football in Iraq: Led by Spirit of Soccer, the objective of this project is to reduce the risk of accidents linked to mines and other unexploded munitions that endanger children living in risk areas. In addition, the initiative enables the development of sporting activities for displaced sections of the population. According to estimates, 25,000 children live in camps in Iraq.
• Inclusive education for the children of East Jerusalem: This project, which comes under the patronage of Terre des Hommes Italy, aims to improve school infrastructures and enable access to sport in the poorer areas of East Jerusalem. The initiative will provide help to 4,700 children and some 200 teachers at ten schools.
• One Goal for Education: The European Football for Development Network (EFDN) is active in five European countries: Belgium, England, Israel, Netherlands and Scotland. This project aims to foster the personal development of children aged 8 to 15 through playing football; support vulnerable children in the education system; strengthen self-esteem and promote tolerance; and create a guide and e-learning platform to ensure the sustainability of the project. Between 1,000 and 1,500 children will benefit from this initiative.
• The “Play for Change” programme in Nepal: Launched by the association of the same name, the project aims to ensure access to sport for vulnerable children, in particular young girls; the objective is also to establish sporting activities and local leagues within the schools, and to develop training for coaches and teachers in local communities.

Following the Foundation board of trustees’ meeting, chairman José Manuel Durão Barroso said: “We are satisfied at being able to work on new projects of quality with trusted partners, and in very diverse regions. Together and from today, we are going to work to defend the rights of the poorest children, and support them – through education, health initiatives, social inclusion and access to sport – to enable them to envisage a better future.”

Further information

The official UEFA Foundation for Children website: www.UEFAfoundation.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uefafoundation

Twitter: https://twitter.com/UEFA_Foundation

Media contact: media@uefafoundation.org