Championing children in Lisbon
The 2025 UEFA Women’s Champions League final provided a perfect backdrop for the UEFA Foundation for Children’s efforts to give vulnerable young people life-long memories, true to the organisation’s guiding principle that every child is a champion.
The UEFA Foundation for Children gave 40 children from the CAIS Association (Associação de Solidariedade Social) the opportunity to experience a European club final, as they watched Arsenal and Barcelona’s thrilling encounter at the Estádio José Alvalade. A day earlier, the children also had the chance to get autographs from and take pictures with stars like Alessia Russo and Alexia Putellas during an unforgettable meet-and-greet session at the stadium.
Continuing the foundation’s efforts to use UEFA’s showpiece occasions to provide memorable moments for vulnerable children, match tickets were provided to another 10 young people from Sports dans la Ville – a French sport-for-social-change organisation that is part of the UEFA Foundation’s Dreams programme.
As the dust began to settle on Arsenal’s victory, six-year-old Alice Pecheco from the CAIS Association took centre stage, joining UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin to hand out the players’ medals. Alice lives in Beja, where the CAIS Association has supported her family for many years. Her father, Fabio, is not only a former beneficiary of its work but now gives back as head coach of the association’s football programme in Beja.
About CAIS
Project partner
The CAIS Association is an NGO operating in Portugal that is dedicated to improving the lives of people facing social and economic exclusion.
Founded in 1994, it focuses on improving employability and access to employment, inspiring confidence and combatting homelessness. It uses football as one of its vehicles of change, and has previously won a UEFA Foundation for Children Award.
The CAIS Association was instrumental in the opening of Portugal’s first Lay’s RePlay pitch – an ongoing UEFA Foundation-supported initiative that transforms empty crisp packets into sustainable football pitches. The pitch was inaugurated in the lead up to the Women’s Champions League final, aided with €150,000 contributed by the UEFA Foundation towards the pitch’s construction.
About Sport dans la Ville
Project Partner
A long-standing partner of the UEFA Foundation, Sport dans la Ville is one of France’s leading non-profit associations. It promotes integration and access to employment through sport and running programmes for thousands of young people living in underserved areas.
The organisation reaches out to children and young adults through sport, providing not only opportunities for physical activity but access to employability programmes, professional development training and mentoring to help them enter the job market.