Special Olympics Global Football Initiative

The rush of adrenaline. The thump of a ball that’s destined for the corner of the net. The shouts of joy as the players flock together at the final whistle. Special Olympics is working to bring the experience of football (Americans call it soccer) to 500,000 new athletes worldwide.

Take The Field. Special Olympics athletes played with stars of the Inter-Milan football team. Read about it

Training For Honor
Rena Dzaforova of Azerbaijan, 18, trains every day. She trains to honor her mother, who died when Rena was a child. She trains to stay in top physical condition, so she can better run the household for her father and two brothers. She trains to be stronger, fitter and faster than anyone expected, because holding her own on an all-male team is necessary if she hopes to play for the national team someday.

But most of all, Rena trains because she loves the sport of football. Rena’s love of the sport paid off when, as the only female player during Football Week activities in Azerbaijan, she was awarded Best Player at the Baku final – showing her that this dream could one day be a reality.

Rena is one of millions of dedicated football fans worldwide. She’s also one of over 300,000 Special Olympics athletes currently playing football competitively. Thanks to her involvement with football, she and thousands of other Special Olympics athletes can see a brighter future for themselves – one of full inclusion and acceptance, where they are seen for their skills and contributions and not for their disabilities.

Bringing the Message of Hope
Special Olympics wants to bring this message of hope to more football lovers worldwide – which is why in early 2008, we teamed up with the Football For Hope Movement and Street Football World to create the Global Football Initiative. This year, three professional football clubs--Inter-Milan from Italy, Tottenham Hotspur from the United Kingdom and Sports Club Corinthians Paulista from Brazil--have enthusiastically thrown their support behind the initiative by become Special Olympics Team Ambassadors.

Special Olympics Global Football has three goals: to bring football to a total of 500,000 players worldwide; to increase the quality of coaching our athletes receive; and to help our athletes build skills they can use on and off the field of play. All this while building a fan base of footballers around the world.

With the World Cup matches well under way, Special Olympics will use the growing attention and spirit to buoy its efforts to introduce intellectually disabled people to the world's most popular sport. In many countries, people with intellectual disabilities are shunned, and all the while athletes-in-the-making, who can enjoy and benefit from football, sit ignored.

We know football transforms athletes, and we believe it has the power to transform attitudes about intellectual disability as well. Recently, thanks to the success of Special Olympics football, more than 20 national football federations across Europe integrated support of players with intellectual disabilities into their regular activity plans, leading the way for other sports organizations, like the European Swimming League and FIBA (the Home of International Basketball) to do the same.

Football is the world’s most popular sport and a leader globally. No other sport has its reach and impact. We know that by bringing football to more athletes worldwide, Special Olympics gets 500,000 steps closer to evening the playing field for people with intellectual disabilities.

Be Part of the Family
Help us in this exciting new initiative. Your donation brings training manuals, equipment and talented volunteer coaches to more communities, including your own.

Or get involved by becoming a coach, and experience the rush of athletes competing for the love of sport – not for money or glory.

As Global Football Committee member Teofilo Cubillas says, “I believe there is nothing more wonderful in life than sharing what you know with people who are eager to learn and understand all that you give to them.”

Through football, we can certainly help these individuals achieve greater things, on and off the field; in turn, they can inspire all of us with their unstoppable spirit.

   
  What YOU Can Do 
   
 
  • Get in touch with Special Olympics near you to see what you can do to help.
 
   
  
  
 
  • Get in the game by joining Special Olympics Unified Sports®, where people with and without intellectual disabilities train and compete together on the same team.