GLOBAL GOALS WORLD CUP

During the Global Goals World Cup 2019 edition, which was held in Copenhagen earlier this month, 24 teams from all across Europe, including Malta, set out to play for the world they want. In this 5v5 tournament, where football met activism, all teams qualified by taking action for one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Winning this tournament was not only based on the team’s performance in Copenhagen, but also on how successful they were in generating awareness about the Sustainable Development Goal they chose to play for. The winning football team will proceed to play in the Final in NYC during the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.

Led by Cynthia Debono as the National Global Goals Ambassador, and by inspirational coach and player Rosalie Borg, the team encouraged women and girls of different sage to become active and join in any sports discipline of their choice. The Maltese team, that played for gender equality through sports (Sustainable Development Goal No. 5), come from different social backgrounds, and varied in ages and abilities. The participants’ age, that varied between 14 and 46 years, was no coincidence. We wanted to emphasise the point that anyone can learn, and anyone can play no matter the skill or age. And in line with this Global Goals World Cup’s concept of ‘Women helping Women’, our team showed exactly how that can done.

Our motivation to be part of the Global Goals World Cup was to use the power of sports to empower women and girls to be more active, to fight for their dreams, stand brave, and keep moving forward.

The Maltese team made it to the semi-finals.

The Global Goals World Cup, an alternative football tournament that creates communities and inspires and engages women from all over the world, is an international soccer initiative created by Danish sports organisation EIR Soccer, in collaboration with Save the Children, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and several other partners.