Football for Peace (FFP) is a diplomatic sports movement that aims at using the power of sports to harness its potential to unite, and create greater understanding between people, communities and governments. Football for Peace aims at achieving integration of people from diverse background through creating awareness, working at every level from government to community, and holding football peace matches bringing together current and ex-professional footballers and royal patronage to play. Football for Peace was co-founded by Muslim British Pakistani Footballer Kashif Siddiqi along with Chile soccer legend Elias Figueroa.
According to Figueroa, “Sport is a great tool and can be used as a social bridge for education, understanding and cooperation between people, independently of their socio-economic background. The sports community has the power to advance humanity and ensure that families and children can have access to healthcare, education, protection and equality”. The Football for Peace now has the services of many prominent footballers as its ambassadors. The list includes names such as Harry Redknapp, Robbie Savage, and Ally Mc Coist. Through a host of activities, Football for Peace Program has being playing an active role towards the fulfilment of its objectives.
In September 2015, under the aegis of Football for Peace, the City for Peace campaign was launched in Birmingham. One of the highlights was the organisation of a ‘Peace Match’ involving former UK professional footballers, Football for Peace Footballers and current international players of the Afghanistan national team. This diverse pool of talent highlighted the commitment of Football for Peace to bring national and international attention to make a positive change to cities throughout the country and further afield. Earlier in the year, Football for Peace Program launched the ‘City for Peace’ in Kozhikode, India.
A tournament was organised with the theme of uniting 8 teams from 8 differing nations, creating a sense of peace as they come together in a football tournament that unites people of different communities. Post-tournament, Football for Peace delivered a Legacy Programme dedicated to the youth of different areas surrounding Kerala, promoting cultural exchange and peace between the various communities. The Legacy Programme was hosted under the Patronage of Brazilian world cup winning superstar Ronaldinho who said that “football has the power to unite people”. Besides the City for Peace Program, FFP identifies young Football for Peace Ambassadors and equips them with life skills for the future by organizing workshops, leadership classes and peace tournaments.
FFP also works with schools to put on educational workshops on conflict resolution, equality and empowerment. The United Nations has also recognised the efforts made by the Football for Peace Program towards its role in promoting peace and social inclusion. On December 14 2015, the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) signed a historic Letter of Intent (LOI) with Football for Peace, at Palais des Nations in Geneva. With the LOI, UNOSDP and FFP intends to share their expertise concerning the area of sport for development and peace, in particular around the use of football as an effective delivery mechanism to promote peace, tolerance, and respect regardless of ethnic, cultural, religious differences.
According to Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the United Nations General Secretary, who counter-signed the agreement on behalf of the UN “by impacting directly to communities on the ground, the UNOSDP Youth Leadership Programme (YLP) and “Football for Peace” share common values”. According to Kashif Siddiqui, the agreement with UN is significant because as “Football for Peace” moves forward, having the support of global leaders and dignitaries helps in spreading the message of the organization more effectively across the globe. He further believes that sport is a universal language that can help prevent extremism and racism among young people.
Photo Credit : Shutterstock
You must be logged in to post a comment.