May 6 – With corporate social responsibility playing an increasingly powerful role in football to highlight humanitarian issues, UEFA has set up a new body designed to use the sport as a tool for social change.
The UEFA Foundation for Children was established on the initiative of the UEFA President Michel Platini, reflecting the desire of European football’s governing body to play a more active role in society.
The board of trustees met for the first time on the fringes of the UEFA Congress in Vienna in March with José Manuel Durão Barroso, former president of the European Commission, elected for a four-year term as chairman.
Other trustees include Sándor Csányi (president of the Hungarian Football Federation and founder of the Csányi Foundation for Children), Norman Darmanin Demajo (president of the Malta Football Association), Peter Gilliéron (president of the Swiss Football Association and chairman of the UEFA Fair Play and Social Responsibility Committee), Margarita Louis-Dreyfus (president of the Louis-Dreyfus Foundation), Platini himself and Viviane Reding (member of the European Parliament).
At its inaugural meeting, the board of trustees approved a series of initial projects including continuing UEFA’s involvement in organising football tournaments and implementing coaching programmes at the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan close to the Syrian border where thousands of children have been displaced.
Three projects linked to Euro 2016 are also being undertaken whilst the Foundation has also taken over Just Play, a programme in the Pacific originally set up by the Oceania Football Confederation to counter the problem of child obesity.
“UEFA’s commitment in setting up this foundation embodies a desire that has always inspired me, to reach out to those most in need,” said Barroso.
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