The Grassroot Soccer World Cup Blog

"Game-Changing" Campaigns Launch as World Cup Approaches 

Grassroot Soccer contributed to the World Cup excitement Tuesday by launching two inspiring campaigns at the Khayelitsha Football for Hope Center.

Over 100 local schoolgirls participated in the Skillz Street Celebration, marking the official start of Grassroot Soccer’s ambitious initiative to reach 1 million youth before the kick off of Rio de Janeiro’s 2014 World Cup. Accompanied by friends, family and plenty of vuvuzelas, 10 teams of girls danced and dribbled to commemorate their commitment to the empowering Skillz curriculum.

The event celebrated the beginning of an innovative partnership between GRS and international philanthropist Bobby Sager’s “Hope is a Game-Changer” project. GRS and its partners will receive 10,000 indestructible soccer balls for use in programming across Africa. The bright yellow balls are designed to face up to the toughest conditions imaginable and will keep rolling even after being run over by a truck (although this wasn’t tested at the event). “The slightest ray of hope can ignite the human spirit’s ability to overcome,” says Sager, who sees the balls as a symbol of hope and looks to GRS to realize his vision for social change.

In the next month GRS will continue to build on this momentum, engaging more than 5,000 youth through Skillz Holiday Programs, bringing close to 15,000 young people to World Cup matches, and sending youth representatives from our South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia programs to the Football for Hope Festival 2010.

Get ready for the World Cup!