The Big Goal has been nationally recognised by winning the Charity Champions award at
the Channel Champions Awards 2024.
In its inaugural year, the campaign has united 34 ICT companies from across the country to help change the lives of homeless and disadvantaged young people through football; and
The Big Goal’s headline sponsor Giacom collected the prestigious trophy for the initiative at
a ceremony held in London’s Regents Park on 4 July.
The Channel Champions Awards recognise achievements by vendors and distributors in the
ICT industry, in categories ranging from leadership and marketing to apprenticeships,
engineering and finance.
The Charity Champions award is given to a dynamic, creative and successful charity campaign that has delivered in fundraising, staff involvement, profile-raising and motivating
colleagues.
The Big Goal was deemed to have successfully achieved this by bringing companies from
across the industry together to support participants onto the nationally acclaimed Street
Soccer Academy programme, run by the Street Soccer Foundation.
Members of The Big Goal saw their companies both sponsor individual academies and have
the opportunity of meeting the young participants in person to share practical employability
advice and lead careers workshops, whilst also being given the chance to provide a team-bonding opportunity through entering a team representing their organisation into The Big Goal national five-a-side football tournament against fellow ICT companies.
Keith Mabbutt, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Street Soccer Foundation, said:
“This national accolade is incredibly humbling and represents a marvellous start to the nationwide campaign we’ve created in The Big Goal. Having united the sector through the initiative in the way we have done, with the fantastic support of Giacom, as well as Comms Dealer and Sky, we hope to now build on this success with a national award-winning campaign that is genuinely changing lives for the better.”
Terry O’Brien, Chief Executive Officer of Giacom, said: “Winning the Charity Champions award is a remarkable achievement, highlighting the incredible impact The Big Goal has had for young people across the country.
“As the headline sponsor, we are immensely proud of how the Channel has united in support of this cause, bringing positive changes to communities and young lives nationwide.
“With so much already accomplished, it’s easy to forget that The Big Goal is still only in its first year, so this is just the beginning of many more incredible achievements to come.”
To find out more about how to become involved in the award-winning campaign, visit The
Big Goal official website: www.thebiggoal.co.uk