The spring UEFA Foundation for Children board of trustees meeting was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, our work has continued even during this challenging period and our chairman, Aleksander Čeferin, decided to nominate the 2020 UEFA Foundation for Children awards as planned and additionally grant financial support to the Youth Sports Games, the biggest amateur sports event for children and youth in Europe.
In accordance with the foundation’s status and regulations, the decisions were taken in a written procedure.
2020 UEFA Foundation for Children awards
The foundation has asked the 55 UEFA member associations to nominate charities in their countries according to the following criteria:
- All award recipients must be based in the country of a UEFA member association.
- Potential recipients must accept and comply with the foundation charter and ethics code.
- Potential recipients must have been registered with the relevant national authorities for at least three years and comply with national legal obligations.
- The activities carried out by recipients must be aimed at helping vulnerable, deprived or socially excluded children, and must never involve the promotion of talented young footballers.
The Board of Trustees has decided to divide the total funding – €1m – equally between 20 nominees, with the 20 organisations below each receiving a €50,000 grant:
| CIO | Associations | NGOs |
| AUT | Austrian Football Association | SOS-Kinderdorf |
| BEL | Belgian Football Association | Koninklijke Sporting Club City Pirates |
| BLR | Belarus Football Association | SOS-Сhildren’s Village Marjina Gorka |
| CRO | Croatian Football Association | The Croatian Down Syndrome Association |
| CZE | Football Association of the Czech Republic | Real Top Praha |
| DEN | Danish Football Association | The danish christmas seal foundation |
| ENG | English Football Association | Coaches Across Continents Ltd |
| EST | Estonian Football Association | SOS Children’s Village Association of Estonia |
| GER | German Football Association | In safe hands e.V. |
| GIB | Gibraltar Football Association | Help Me Learn Africa |
| ITA | Italian Football Association | Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù |
| LTU | Lithuanian Football Association | Nemuno krašto vaikai |
| NIR | Irish Football Association | Irish FA Foundation |
| POL | Polish Football Association | Hope for Mundial Association |
| POR | Portuguese Football Federation | Ludotempo – Associação da Promoção do Brincar |
| RUS | Football Union of Russia | Under the flag of kindness |
| SCO | Scottish Football Association | Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation |
| SVN | Football Association of Slovenia | Youth Health and Summer Resort Debeli Rtič |
| SWE | Swedish football Association | KIF Örebro DFF |
| UKR | Ukrainian Association of Football | Football Development in Ukraine |
Youth Sports Games
The board has decided to allocate €50,000 to this year’s festival, which will be organised as soon as the situation eases up. This event will have a special signification after the Covid-19 pandemic, and we hope it will inspire children and help bring a positive spirit back to the region. The games are held in three countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. In 2019, as many as 202,000 youngsters competed.
Call for projects 2020
The UEFA Foundation for Children will launch a new call for projects from 1 July to 15 August 2020. Applicants from all over the world can submit their projects on our official website, where they can find all the necessary information and the selection criteria in due time. The board of trustees will select projects and announce its decisions at the next meeting in November.
The current health crisis is challenging the world and having devastating effects on the most vulnerable communities. Our partners need our support more than ever in this uncertain period to enable football and education programmes in underserved communities to carry on once the pandemic is over.
– Urs Kluser, general secretary of the UEFA Foundation for Children
