Sanchita Chatterjee, BS News Agency:
- Members of the fund’s advisory board
shared inspiring reflections with an international audience
- Fund aims to provide quality education and
football development for 100,000 children worldwide
- Celebration highlighted growing support
for the initiative as it moves closer to its USD 100 million goal
- Video interviews available for media to
download for editorial purposes
The FIFA Global
Citizen Education Fund was featured prominently at the Final Draw for the FIFA
World Cup 2026™ on Friday, 5 December, with moving messages from the
fund’s advisory board members, reinforcing the transformative
power of education and the impact the initiative aims to deliver for children
worldwide. In a special video message, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Global
Citizen Co-Founder and CEO Hugh Evans, Australian actor Hugh Jackman, Colombian
singer-songwriter Shakira, FIFA Legend Kaká, and Bank of America Co-President
Jim DeMare invited the global audience to consider how access to quality
education — combined with the joy of the game — can drive meaningful and
lasting change.“On the occasion of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, we donated 1
USD for each ticket sold to the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. We will do
the same for the FIFA World Cup 2026, and we will ask everyone else
participating in it to contribute too,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
“Half of the USD 100 million or more that will be part of this fund will go
directly to FIFA Football for Schools. This fantastic project gives children in
211 FIFA Member Associations around the world — more than the number of
countries represented in the United Nations — the opportunity to be educated
using football as a school of life, using the values of football for their
growth and education.”Global Citizen’s Co-Founder and CEO Hugh Evans added:
“There are 250 million children around the world without access to basic
education. The fact that FIFA is using this platform to make sure that over
100,000 children get access to quality education is very powerful. We set
ourselves this massively ambitious goal to raise USD 100 million for quality
education, and we’ve already raised over USD 30 million. We have advisory board
members such as Abel [The Weeknd], Hugh Jackman, Shakira, Ivanka Trump and Serena
Williams, who are united behind a common mission to make sure that everyone has
access to quality education.”Launched earlier this year, the FIFA Global
Citizen Education Fund aims to raise USD 100 million by the final of the FIFA
World Cup 2026™, where Global Citizen will put on the tournament’s first-ever
half-time show. The fund will expand access to quality education and football
development for children in over 200 communities globally through grassroots
education programmes.“When you have two big organisations like FIFA and Global
Citizen [working] together, you bring attention, credibility and authority to a
very interesting project,” reflected FIFA Legend Kaká, who won the 2002 FIFA
World Cup Korea/Japanä. “Football was really important for my education. It
[played] a key role in my life. This is a great platform which allows kids and
young people to dream.”Organisations providing access to education and sport
for children in underserved communities around the world are invited to
apply online for grants of up to USD 250,000 from the FIFA
Global Citizen Education Fund. The first round of grantees will be announced in
early 2026.