It was a rather short trip. I didn’t even spend 24 hours in the German city of Munich.
On July 12, 2008, I was lucky to attend and watch a selection of the world's top soccer players facing off each other in a charity match in the Allianz Arena in Munich. This was the first awareness creating event for the Goal4Africa Organisation.
The aim of Goal4Africa is to create a lasting legacy for the children of Africa by providing much needed funding through a global awareness campaign of scoring goals in the lead-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. This mission is inspired by the vision to help the children of Africa through the global medium of Football by leveraging the power of international football we can improve football development and education on the African continent.
The two teams, called ‘Edu’ and ‘Cation’, to underline the goals of the Foundation and the friendly character of the match, were headed up by the team captains Seedorf of the ‘Edu’ team dressed in white shirts, and Ballack of the ‘Cation’ team wearing blue shirts. The teams scored 15 goals. Spectators and visitors worldwide could sponsor each goal scored in the match by sending text messages (SMS) and/or donating through the Goal4Africa web site (www.goal4africa.org). Jürgen Klinsmann and Zico, head coach of the ´Edu´ team, did the honorary kick off.
During and after the match I saw how sport, in this case football, can make a difference. I had the chance to meet a number of the athletes which gave life to this match in this marvellous stadium.
One of these was Clarence Seedorf.
A seed of hope
AC Milan’s Clarence Seedorf, who is the first global ambassador for this project, said that “the concept originated as a simple idea – and a powerful ideal. It was inspired by two major upcoming events: Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday, on 18 July 2008, and the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, in 2010. In a nutshell, Goal4Africa is all about building a legacy for the future of Africa by bringing together two great forces: Education and Football.”
One of the beneficiaries of this initiative will be the Champions for Children foundation.
This foundation is Seedorf’s own vehicle to fulfil a desire he had when he was young. He calls it “the gift of giving”. The source of motivation is encapsulated in these words “From my days as a child watching famine strangle Ethiopia, I made a promise to myself to do whatever I could to help those, and others, when I was old enough, and had the means to do so.”
I had the chance to meet the player last year, when as part of my recent Masters degree, I spent few days at Milanello to analyse A.C. Milan’s communications. Those who like football, in particular AC Milan, understand when I say, that this was a life time experience. This was only possible to a very close friend and mentor of mine, Charles.
Those three days were emotion packed. One of the things that struck me most was a brief informal encounter with Clarence Seedorf. Through his words he managed to sow in me the seed that kicked off a process, through which I started to look at how I can assists in this project and make a difference. I will keep you informed about this in other blog entries.
However I felt obliged that you, as readers of my blog, will get to know first.