[London] FedEx Express Europe, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and UEFA Foundation for Children are extending their seven-year collaboration, shining a spotlight on the NGOs working to improve the lives of young people in the host countries of the UEFA Champions League Finals.
The program – Championing an Inclusive Future through Football – runs alongside FedEx sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League and provides funding to non-profit organisations using football as a tool to increase inclusivity in communities in Paris, Istanbul, and London.
Charitable funding to the value of €300,000 has been awarded via CAF America on FedEx behalf, to sponsor the program. The Foundation has allocated the donation in equal proportion to three chosen non-profits in its network, to strengthen and broaden the impact of three very different programs designed in response to local needs.
“Collaborations like these enable us to apply a social responsibility lens to our sponsorship of professional sports. FedEx sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League gives us an opportunity to lend charity organisations a stage – a much-needed platform to raise awareness of the work they do to improve the lives of young people in communities geographically touched by the tournament” said Wouter Roels, Senior Vice President Marketing, FedEx Express Europe.
“FedEx has been a sponsor of social responsibility programs since the UEFA Foundation for Children was founded back in 2015. We’re grateful to be able to continue our collaboration alongside the current sponsorship cycle and provide valuable funding to non-profits using football to tackle the most pressing social issues in their home countries. This program will contribute to sustainable development, safeguarding the rights of the child, and championing a more positive and inclusive future for our young people,” said Urs Kluser, President of UEFA Foundation for Children.
Aligning with the host country of last year’s UEFA Champions League Final, funding awarded to French organisation Sport dans la Ville, supports their efforts to keep young girls engaged in football through their teenage years. The grant specifically seeks to expand their Job dans la Ville program, where sport is being used as a tool to close the gap between young women in underserved neighbourhoods and the job market.
This year, ahead of the next UEFA Champions League Final in Turkey, funding awarded to Bonyan Organization will go to support Turkish communities that are adapting to large numbers of displaced children. The funding sets out to benefit more than 4,000 young people from both Turkey and Syria - using football as a mechanism to invite and strengthen social cohesion between refugees and the communities they now live in.
Finally, in the UK, a non-profit called Kick It Out will benefit from its share of the grant, ahead of the UEFA Champions League Final in London in 2024. Sponsoring a diversity and inclusion program among adults, the grant aims to support ethnic minorities in progressing up the ranks of football coaching and management, ultimately entering the world of professional football, where diversity remains a challenge.
FedEx began working with UEFA Foundation in 2016, where together, they constructed artificial turf community football fields – known as Field in a Box – in communities in Spain, Poland, Brazil, and South Africa. Since then, the collaboration between the two organisations has matured to consider how football could be used as a tool to address social challenges and improve lives in more lasting ways. A two-year Football for Employability program was subsequently developed, helping charity organisations in four host countries of UEFA EURO2020 tournament share best practise and expand programs that helped young adults access the jobs market.
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