January, 2008 – With profound honor, Soccer for Peace announces that we have been named an implementing partner of the Football for Hope Movement, a joint effort of FIFA and streetfootballworld. As such Soccer for Peace receives financial support, as well as entry into the group of organizations recognized by the sport’s governing body for their potential to create meaningful change in the world.
The Football for Hope Movement is the fruit of a strategic alliance between FIFA and streetfootball world. It was created to enhance dialogue and collaboration between locally active organizations advancing social development through sport; and the football associations, clubs, players, leagues and commercial partners that support them. The movement aims to utilise the role of football in society in order to contribute to the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Said Mr. Senes Erzik, FIFA Executive Committee Member, “As Chairman of the FIFA Committee for Fair Play and Social Responsibility it is a great pleasure for me to acknowledge how quickly and concretely the Football for Hope Movement is keeping its promise of making a sound contribution to social development through football worldwide. Our support of Soccer for Peace is a recognition of your programme’s”best practices” in this field and we are proud of partnering with you to enhance the chances of building a better future for our youth through our sport.”
FIFA is the sport’s governing body, making the contribution to Soccer for Peace meaningful on both a financial and sentimental level. Streetfootballworld is the driving force behind a global network of NGO working to develop socially beneficial projects in which soccer is the common denominator. It is an organization to which Soccer for Peace has been connected to several years, owing to their shared vision as well as the friendship between SFP Founder Ori Winitzer and streetfootballworld’s Berlin based managers, Vladimir Borkovic and Christophe Mailliet.