New site coming soon
Football Beyond Borders uses the universal power of football to tackle political, social and cultural issues.
Mission
We believe that prejudice and discrimination are born from a lack of understanding and experience, and the best way to overcome this is through the use of shared cultural mediums. We believe football to be one of the most powerful cultural mediums of them all, a truly global language which is spoken throughout the world.
In our global community, the need for cross-cultural dialogue and exchange has never been more apparent, and a decade after the UN's Global Development Compact, it is once again time to examine and build global ties amongst the world's future leaders. Football, the world's global game, is capable as a passion, an experience and a language to transcend socio-cultural boundaries and act as a shared medium through which to achieve dialogue and understanding.
"Football is the perfect tool to correct false perceptions of different people, of different cultures. Really, football reminds us that we are all the same."
- Jürgen Klinsmann, former German international player and manager.
Through our projects, we aim to engage with students and communities from across the globe, using football as a medium for cultural understanding, whilst also putting education back at the top of the agenda, and emphasising the plurality of the issues currently facing the global community.
"Bill Shankly said football is more than just a question of life and death. Here football is fundamental for kids to have fun, discipline and education. But it is definitely much more than just a game."
- Jerome Champagne, adviser to the Palestinian FA
History
Football Beyond Borders has come a long way. Having seen successful tours around the world, including Turkey, Syria and Lebanon in 2009, West Africa in 2010, and Egypt, Palestine and Jordan in 2011, the group has been able to engage with some of the globe's most significant issues. We endeavour to complete at least one major international project a year - over the past three years, this has taken place primarily through the SOAS end of the year football tour.
Over The Wall
This is a film about the journey of a British University football team who are transformed by the events they bear witness to in the Middle East which force them to change their outlook on life. Click the link for more information:
www.sponsume.com/project/over-wall
Donate
Please contribute to Football Beyond Borders by clicking the button below:
Projects
Since 2009 the group has completed 4 major projects around the world. See the articles below for more information on each project.
Constitution
The primary intention of this constitution is to outline structural and organisational processes. For an outline of the ethical beliefs behind Football Beyond Borders, please instead see our Mission.
