Champions For Change: World Football Teams Up With UN Development Goals

Thursday, 22 May 2025, 9:00 am
Press Release: UN News

21 May 2025

The Football for the Goals Forum
brought UN leaders and some of the top voices in the
world’s most popular sport to UN Headquarters in New York
for the inaugural Champions for Change: Football and the
UN Unite for the SDGs event.

The UN has long
recognised the role of sport in advancing the SDGs –
promoting peace, gender equality, health, and climate action
– as affirmed in a General Assembly Resolution on
Sport adopted in December 2022.

With
unparalleled global reach, football holds a unique position
to drive progress on these goals. Launched in July 2022, Football
for the Goals is a UN initiative engaging the
international football community to advocate for the
SDGs.

Wednesday’s forum aimed to
mobilise the football community for action across key SDG
areas.

The kick off

After introductions from
football executives, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, UN
communications chief Melissa Fleming, and the Qatari
Representative to the UN, the opening panel –
Bolstering Community Engagement with the SDGs –
outlined the origins of Football for the Goals and
explored how the football community can deepen its
contribution to the SDGs.

This was followed by a brief
discussion on the football sector’s commitment to climate
sustainability.

Advertisement – scroll to continue reading

The programme then shifted to some of
the Forum’s most substantive panels, exploring how
football both reflects global inequalities – between the
Global South and North, and between men and women – and
has the potential to help address them.

North-South
divide

Júlia Pimenta of Street Child United
highlighted that football organisations in the Global South,
which serve the children who need support most, often lack
adequate funding and must compete with well-resourced
programmes in the Global North.

Sarah Van Vooren of
Atoot in Nepal similarly noted that grassroots organisations
connecting football and sustainable development, frequently
lack the resources needed to reach their full
potential.

When these organisations are properly
supported, they can provide safe, educational environments
for children – often with life-changing
results.

Panellists emphasised that funding such
initiatives is key to advancing SDGs related to education
and reducing inequality.

Levelling the gender playing
field

Jayathma Wickramanayake, a policy advisor on
sports partnerships at UN Women,
noted that the gender equality agency is responsible for
most of the targets under SDG 5 related to closing the
gender gap.

She emphasised that progress has been slow
– and in some areas, it’s even regressing – largely
due to the persistence of rigid social norms, attitudes, and
behaviours.

These norms often manifest in the sports
world through unequal pay and incidents of sexual
harassment. However, Ms. Wickramanayake and other panellists
highlighted how sport can be a powerful tool to challenge
stereotypes and empower women and girls to succeed – both
on and off the
pitch.

© Scoop Media

Using Scoop for work?

Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.

Join Pro Individual
Find out more

Find more from UN News on InfoPages.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}