The Inaugural Football For Good Day: A Landmark Event
More than 100 young people from Street Soccer Academies across the country came together to play in the Football For Good Trophy at the London Stadium.
The five-a-side tournament was held on Sunday, 19 November, to mark the inaugural Football For Good Day – a Commonwealth-wide celebration of the sport’s ability to change lives for the better.
The Journey to the Football For Good Trophy
The players were 18 to 30-year olds, who were homeless or at risk of homelessness by not being in education, employment or training, and they represented the professional football club community organisation where they recently completed a Street Soccer Academy course.
From the Streets to the Stadium: The Academy's Success Stories
The ten-week personal development course, devised by the Street Soccer Foundation, uses football as a catalyst to engage participants in positive mindset training, mentoring support, football coaching and employability workshops.
Teams from ten Street Soccer Academies took part in the Football For Good Trophy, with group stage and semi-final matches held on the London Stadium’s Community Pitch, before the two finalist teams took to the turf of the stadium’s main pitch, that is home to West Ham United, to play the final under the floodlights.
Chelsea FC Foundation lifted the trophy following a 3-1 victory over Salford City’s Foundation 92.
Ahmed Abdi of Foundation 92 won the Golden Boot after scoring eight goals on his team’s journey to the final, while Adam Ziani of Chelsea FC Foundation was Player of the Tournament and the West Ham United Foundation won the Fair Play Award.
Keith Mabbutt, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Street Soccer Foundation, said:
This very first Football For Good Day has achieved precisely what we set out to showcase. It has been a day where we have seen young people gather from literally all over the world, interacting together and encouraging everyone else and championing each other’s endeavours. While there could only be one winning team on the pitch, everyone playing had already won by committing to the Street Soccer Academy programme. Some of those playing have been through very difficult situations in their lives, but they’ve kept coming back week after week to their academy and showed that desire to complete the course, and as such I’m proud and grateful that we’ve been able to provide them the opportunity to play at the iconic London Stadium on Football For Good Day as a reward for their fantastic endeavours. Our very first Street Soccer Academy was in partnership with the West Ham United Foundation back in 2015, so to hold this special inaugural event at the London Stadium has personal significance to us as a charity as well. And I’m thrilled we’ve delivered on a day that has unquestionably become a true platform to inspire, to encourage countries across the world to use the global number one sport as a true force for good.
Tony Rodriguez, who coached the winning Chelsea FC Foundation, said:
The participants have been buzzing all day and being in an environment like this has been extra special for them. It’s been great to see them grow in confidence each week, developing their skills and mindset which has led to them doing things for the first time like learning a new language or creating a CV. They have benefitted immensely from the academy programme and this has been the cherry on top for them.
Gaming for Good: Inside the Xbox Arena
Alongside the football tournament, GAME hosted one of the very first EA Sports FC 24 gaming tournaments, in partnership with Microsoft, in an Xbox arena set up for participants inside the London Stadium.
The final was won by Danny Neal, from Leicester City in the Community, in a 5-4 victory over Jack Matthews, of Everton in the Community – winning a brand new Xbox for himself and the winner’s trophy.
Nick Arran, Managing Director for GAME said:
It was a privilege to support Football For Good Day at the London Stadium and the event was even more successful than we could have hoped. As expected, the esports tournament was thrilling to watch and the opportunity to support young people in need of a leg up in life was deeply humbling. Community is our lifeblood here at GAME and we would like to thank all those who made the day such a special event.
The Football For Good initiative is the brainchild of Keith Mabbutt and was launched by the Street Soccer Foundation earlier this year in support of the Commonwealth’s 2023 Year of Youth, which is celebrating 50 years of the Commonwealth Youth Programme.
Baroness Patricia Scotland, Secretary General of The Commonwealth, said:
Sport is one of the most dynamic and influential ways to allow our young people to enhance their health and opportunity, but also to learn about partnership, fairness, and bringing people together for peace. This is Football For Good. Football for peace and development, and the enhancement of unity across the Commonwealth.
Layne Robinson, Head of Social Policy and Development at The Commonwealth Secretariat, added:
The Commonwealth chose Football For Good as a partner for the Year of Youth because this year, we are celebrating what young people can contribute in the world, and there’s no better thing to connect young people than sports. The top sport in the world is football, so it’s natural we would want to involve sports and football in our Year of Youth activities.
Global Reach: Live Streaming Football For Good Day
The event was live-streamed from the London Stadium to a global audience online and the coverage featured films from similar football events celebrating the sport’s positive impact in some of the other 56 Commonwealth member countries.
The teams that took part in the Football For Good Trophy were from StreetSoccer Academies held at West Ham United Foundation, Chelsea FC Foundation, Sheffield United Community Foundation, Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, Hull City’s Tigers Trust, Everton in the Community, Sunderland FC’s Foundation of Light, Leicester City in the Community, Liverpool’s LFC Foundation and Salford City’s Foundation 92.