UEFA Champions League sponsor and express transportation company, FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), continues its tradition of collaborating with UEFA Foundation for Children to offer memorable experiences to children enrolled in sporting programs of local non-profit organisations.
French organisation Sport dans la Ville has been invited to put forward three children, two boys and one girl aged 7-9, who will have the opportunity to accompany UEFA officials onto the field in front of more than 75,000 people at Stade de France in Paris this weekend.
“This is a great opportunity to be able to involve young people in our programs – it’s an experience unlike any other and one unlikely to ever come around again. For these children, this moment will help them feel visible as individuals alongside admired professional players and respected footballing officials. It’s a global stage for them, one that makes them feel appropriately equal, and a confidence-building memory they can take forward in their lives,” said Hélène Blondel, Sport Dans La Ville.
The selected children will have the rare chance to watch the players from Liverpool and Real Madrid warm-up on the pitch and opportunity to savour the atmosphere of a live tournament in a football stadium that is local to them, but which the three chosen children have never been inside.
“The UEFA Foundation for Children is delighted that our collaboration continues as it began, when FedEx became a sponsor of UEFA tournaments back in 2015. These apparently simple gestures, of donating opportunities to those who may not otherwise have them, has an immeasurable impact on the individuals themselves, and lends a platform for local charities, like SDLV, who are utilising football to support children’s rights and needs,” said Urs Kluser, general secretary of the UEFA Foundation for Children.
“The donation of referee mascot places at the UEFA Champions League Final is only one initiative, but notably the most visible, in our social responsibility collaboration between FedEx and the UEFA Foundation for Children. Throughout our sponsorship cycle we will continue as we have always intended – to utilise our position as a sponsor of professional football to fund charitable organisations working to advance social issues, such as diversity and inclusion, that affect the opportunities and sense of optimism among young people,” said Wouter Roels, SVP Marketing International, FedEx Express Europe.
The donation of referee mascot places to local non-profit organisations will continue throughout FedEx three-year sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League, offering similar opportunities to children in Istanbul, Turkey and London, UK via football-focused charities when the time rolls around.
A three-year social responsibility grant from FedEx to the UEFA Foundation will shortly be announced. The co-developed program, Championing the Future, will provide financial support to charities in host-countries of the UEFA Champions League Finals, promoting diversity and equality among children and empowering them to become champions of a more inclusive future.