Fifa Opens First Ffh Centre

07 Dec 2009 | tshego

Share on

FIFA has opened its first Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha in the outskirts of Cape Town – the world football governing body’s 2010 World Cup community campaign will looks to build 20 such centres across the African continent.

The centre will help to tackle HIV/AIDS and some of the biggest issues facing young people across the African continent.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter was joined by Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa (OC) CEO Danny Jordaan, South African Football Association President Kirsten Nematandani and Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town Dan Plato at the celebration of the milestone.

‘With the opening of this Football for Hope Centre, we can now see the real legacy that the 2010 FIFA World Cup will leave in Africa,’ said Blatter.

‘This centre will use people’s passion for football to transform communities and to provide hope and opportunities for young people. Many years from now people will still be benefiting from this and the other 20 Centres for 2010.’

The next five centres will be built by FIFA and its strategic ally streetfootballworld in disadvantaged communities in Kenya, Namibia, Mali, Rwanda and Ghana and will address crucial issues like health, education, gender equality, peace-building and the environment as well as HIV and AIDS – considered to be one of the greatest challenges faced by young people in Africa.

The centre in Khayelitsha has been built in an area once notorious for crime and violence as part of an initiative to breathe new life into the community.

It provides rooms for public health services and informal education, office space, common space for community gatherings and a football turf pitch.

Each of the 20 centres will be run by an existing community organisation. The Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha will be managed by Grassroot Soccer, a South African-based non-profit organisation that uses football to educate young people about HIV and AIDS and empower them with the knowledge to live HIV-free.