News

Thanks to football, the foundation supports children and gives them new prospects for the future.

To mark World Refugee Day on 20 June, the UEFA Foundation for Children reaffirms its support for partner bodies who are working to improve the lives of child refugees, respecting their fundamental rights and their dignity.

Since its creation in April 2015, the UEFA Foundation for Children has been involved in projects that defend the rights of child refugees. At the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, the foundation has set up numerous sports activities, as well as a football championship, which enables the children in the camp to play in a safe environment.

In the Middle East, the UEFA foundation is continuing its support work for refugees in Jordan, and is giving financial support to the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP). In Lebanon, the foundation is providing financial assistance to the FC Barcelona Foundation, the Cross Cultures Project Association (CCPA) and streetfootballworld, which are setting up projects which make use of football to strengthen social cohesion, encourage reconciliation and peaceful coexistence within communities and promote education. Last but not least, the foundation is supporting the Spirit of Soccer project in Iraq, which aims to use the power of football to make children in camps aware of the dangers of anti-personnel landmines and explosive remnants of war.

Thanks to a €2m donation made by UEFA last December, the foundation has earmarked support to countries affected by a huge influx of refugees. In Europe, the foundation is supporting urgent humanitarian projects led by Terre des Hommes (TdH) to assist unaccompanied children and families with children under five years of age in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece.

A portion of this financial support has enabled the creation of a solidarity fund to help child refugees and facilitate their social integration into host communities in Europe. This fund will be made available to NGOs, national associations and the wider football family, with operations coordinated with the streetfootballworld network. So far, 19 organisations in 13 European countries are benefitting from this support fund:

Bosnia-Herzegovina:         Football Friends

France:                    Sport dans la Ville

Georgia:                   Cross Cultures Project Association

Germany:                  Amandla Edufootball, Champions Ohne Grenzen, KICKFAIR, Rheinflanke, Rheinflanke & FC Internationale

Greece:                   Terre des Hommes, Diogenis

Hungary:                  Oltalom Sport Association

Italy:                      Balon Mundial

Netherlands:               Johann Cruyff Foundation

Republic of Ireland/ Northern Ireland:           Sport Against Racism Ireland

Serbia:                    Football Friends

Spain:                     Red Deporte y Cooperación

Ukraine:                   Scort Foundation

United Kingdom:           Sport4Life, Start Again Project, Tigers Sport & Education Trust

In addition, the UEFA Foundation for Children is devoting particular attention to displaced persons in Ukraine. It is supporting the “Play away, Play everywhere” project, led by the Ukrainian Football Federation (FFU), and which aims to facilitate the social integration of displaced children by enabling them to play football.

 

Recognising community organisations and their role in helping charitable partners

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 on 13 June at the foundation’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Nominations for the 2016 UEFA Foundation for Children Awards were one of the key items on the agenda. Responsibility for managing and awarding the annual €1 million UEFA Monaco charity award passed from the UEFA Fair Play and Social Responsibility Committee to the UEFA Foundation for Children in 2015, when it became the UEFA Foundation for Children Awards.

The foundation’s board of trustees have established a new selection system to acknowledge and raise the profile of community groups and their contribution to the activities they support. To be eligible for an award, charities must be linked to football, or sport in general, and seek to promote peace, integration, greater social harmony, respect for differences and non-discrimination.

The first UEFA Foundation for Children Award winners are:

• streetfootballworld: a network that unites more than 100 community organisations behind a common goal – changing the world through football.
• Colombianitos: a body aiming to improve the quality of life of children and young people and their communities, through sport, recreation, education and health.
• Just Play: a programme that improves the lives of children in the Pacific region through football.
• Right To Play: a programme using the power of play to educate and empower children to overcome the effects of poverty, conflict and disease in disadvantaged communities.
• Magic Bus: a programme that steers children towards a better life with better awareness, better life skills and better opportunities in the journey from childhood to livelihood.

The board of trustees also reviewed all ongoing projects, especially those related to a solidarity fund for migrant and displaced children, which was set up with a €2m donation approved by the UEFA Executive Committee on 11 December 2015. Various projects are being implemented to help migrants and displaced children from the Middle East and eastern European countries such as Ukraine and Georgia, and also to support European host countries that are receiving unprecedented numbers of migrants.

In Europe, projects are being put in place in 13 countries in cooperation with 19 different associations. These projects will help more than 30,000 people, of which 65% are migrants and 35% are people active in society, such as coaches and teachers.

In the Middle East, the UEFA Foundation for Children is continuing its support of refugees in Jordan and Lebanon through projects that are using football to promote social cohesion, foster reconciliation and peaceful coexistence within communities, and promote education.

Following the meeting of the foundation’s board of trustees, chairman José Manuel Durão Barroso said: “The UEFA Foundation for Children is already making a difference all over the world. Already today, thousands of children who are underprivileged or living in difficult circumstances are being supported in their daily lives by the Foundation through education and opportunities to play, among other things.

In order to develop our activities we will continue to look for new forms of financing that respect the code of ethics – and we will do this with complete transparency.

We consider that developing our activities hand-in-hand with other organizations whose projects are linked to sport is a sustainable way to increase the results of our work, namely, by promoting deep integration and creating social harmony.”

 

The UEFA Foundation for Children is currently supporting projects in 44 different countries or territories:

• 20 in Europe: in Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine.
• 7 in Africa: in Angola, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia and Uganda.
• 2 in South America: in Brazil and Colombia.
• 11 in Oceania: in American Samoa, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.
• 4 in Asia: in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Nepal.

These activities are carried out in partnership with 35 charitable organisations, 12 national football associations and a number of UN agencies.

The UEFA Foundation for Children project 20,000 Children’s Smiles gives 20,000 disadvantaged youngsters the opportunity to attend matches at UEFA EURO 2016.

On the initiative of the UEFA Foundation for Children and in close cooperation with EURO 2016 SAS and the tournament’s host cities, 20,000 Children’s Smiles is giving 20,000 youngsters aged 12 to 18 the opportunity to attend UEFA EURO 2016 matches in their local area.

The project is being rolled out throughout the group stage (not including the opening match) and the round of 16, i.e. at 43 different matches across all ten host cities, with an average of 500 tickets being made available per match.

The project would not have been possible without the support of the host cities, which identified local organisations working day in, day out with young people in difficult situations. The host cities and the UEFA Foundation for Children together have taken care of all the logistics, particularly in terms of administrative support and transport.

The local organisations selected to take part in the project include community centres, rehabilitation centres, medical centres and local football clubs. They will be the ones accompanying the youngsters to the matches. Some of the youngsters were offered this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in exchange for some kind of community service, such as helping to clean up parts of the city. That was the case in Marseille, for example, where a clean-up operation was organised on Prado Beach.

Media representatives looking for more information are invited to contact the project leaders in the different host cities:

Bordeaux    fcomba@bordeaux-metropole.fr

Lens Agglo  Cvignon@mairie-lens.fr

Lille        yleborgne@lillemetropole.fr

Lyon        jean-loup.coly@mairie-lyon.fr

Marseille    aplacide@mairie-marseille.fr   or   nboyer@mairie-marseille.fr

Nice        julien.sassi@ville-nice.fr

Paris        karim.herida@paris.fr

roch.francois@paris.fr

Saint-Denis  azdine.ayad@ville-saint-denis.fr

Saint-Etienne M.GRETTEAU@saint-etienne-metropole.fr

Toulouse    Chantal.renaud@toulouse.metropole.fr

As a prelude to the real thing this summer, Lille and Lens will soon be put through their paces as they play host to the EURO FOOT Jeunes schools’ tournament.

Supported by the UEFA Foundation for Children and organised jointly by France’s National Union of School Sport (UNSS), the International School Sport Federation (ISF), EURO 2016 SAS and the French Football Federation (FFF), the EURO FOOT Jeunes schools’ tournament is aimed at children all over Europe. This major sporting event, which will take place between 30 May and 5 June in northern France, promises to be an enthralling and highly enjoyable experience for all concerned.

This extraordinary event, which will take place in Lens and Lille, will feature both boys’ and girls’ competitions. A total of 800 players will take part, competing for 32 teams from 25 different countries.

A number of big names from the world of football will be dropping by to show their support, including Rio Mavuba, Laura Georges, Djibril Cissé, Raphaël Varane and Lotta Schelin.

You can watch the official tournament video here: http://bit.ly/ClipEFJ (UNSS’s Facebook account)

Match Schedule here:

Planning Eurofoot Jeunes

Highlights of the event

Monday 30 May

10.30 Opening match of girls’ competition: France v Germany

Attended by the president of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie regional council and Olivier Dacourt

Stade François Blin, rue Arthur Lamendin, 62210 Avion

20.00 Opening ceremony and parade of nations

Attended by Patrick Kanner, French minister for urban affairs, youth and sport

Palacium, 2 rue Breughel, 59650 Villeneuve-d’Ascq

21.30 Concert featuring Lord Kossity and Sarahba

Palacium, 2 rue Breughel, 59650 Villeneuve-d’Ascq

 

Tuesday 31 May

10.30 Girls’ competition: France v Luxembourg

Attended by Djibril Cissé

La Gaillette (RC Lens’s training complex), rue Arthur Lamendin, 62210 Avion

12.30 Children meet and have lunch with French men’s team and Djibril Cissé

 

Thursday 2 June

11.30 Opening of the EURO FOOT Jeunes village attended by Djibril Cissé

Stadium Lille Métropole, avenue de la Châtellenie, 59650 Villeneuve-d’Ascq

 

Friday 3 June

16.30 Presentation ceremony for the UNSS Cup – a tournament combining virtual reality and real football for schoolchildren attending collèges in the department of Nord

Stadium Lille Métropole, avenue de la Châtellenie, 59650 Villeneuve-d’Ascq

 

Saturday 4 June

17.00 Diversity tournament (4 teams; 40 big names invited by the FFF)

Palais Saint Sauveur, 78 avenue du Président John F. Kennedy, 59000 Lille

19.30 Vernissage of Just Play exhibition at Lille City Hall

The UEFA Foundation for Children is taking this opportunity to showcase the Just Play programme, which uses football to foster the education and development of children on Pacific islands. This photo exhibition at Lille City Hall documenting the programme will be open to the public from 4 June.

21.00 Charity dinner in support of Orphelins de Makala (Orphans of Makala), an association set up by Rio Mavuba, and the ISF’s School Sport Foundation

Lille City Hall, place Augustin Laurent, 59000 Lille

 

Sunday 5 June

13.30 Final of girls’ competition

Stadium Lille Métropole, avenue de la Châtellenie, 59650 Villeneuve-d’Ascq

15.00 Private concert featuring Walshy Fire (Major Lazer), Lord Kossity and Sarahba

15.30 Final of boys’ competition

Stadium Lille Métropole, avenue de la Châtellenie, 59650 Villeneuve-d’Ascq

17.00 Presentation of medals by French internationals Mamadou Sakho, Kheira Hamraoui and Laura Georges

17.30 Closing ceremony

 

Media representatives wishing to attend the tournament can request an accreditation via the links below:

http://unss.org

http://eurofootjeunes.fr/presse

 

Contact persons for media enquiries:

Aurélie Bresson (+33 (0)6 59 54 99 17; presse@unss.org)

Kevin Paris: (+33 (0)6 72 07 11 59; kparis@revolutionr.com)

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.”