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

Football unites fans worldwide – but on Wednesday it matched the sport’s global reach with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the lead-up to World Football Day, marked on 25 May.

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.

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.