SUB-SAHARAN & AFRICA
South Sudan
Partner since:
2019
Total number of Open Fun Football Schools (OFFS):
18 OFFS (+241 one-day festivals)
Total number of children:
5.528 children at OFFS (+52.857 at one-day festivals)
Day to day trainings:
2.526 events, 37.028 children, and 422.359 days of training.
Nigeria
Partner since:
2022
Total number of Open Fun Football Schools (Open Fun Football Schools):
13 OFFS (+13 one-day festivals)
Total number of children:
250 children at OFFS (+5806 at one-day festivals)
Day to day trainings:
480 events, 4.000 children, and 96.000 days of training.
Many retired football players across the world battle serious mental health problems such as loss of identity, depression and anxiety. In addition, many struggle to transition into life after professional sports, due to limited education and work experience. The situation is exacerbated in Nigeria, which already suffers from poverty, lack of social security and livelihood/skills development opportunities and where professional players working for local clubs are often paid so little that it leaves no room for saving. Consequently, most former players have very few opportunities to create a sustainable livelihood.
To address this, Cross Cultures and our local partner, the All Nigerian Football Players Union (ANFPU), provide former football players with a pathway taking outset in something they are good at and dedicated to – football – and which can both contribute to strengthening their own and their communities’ resilience. Volunteering as Fun Football coaches provide the participants with a sense of purpose and present them with opportunities to develop crucial transversal skills within organizing, leadership, and communication among others.
Through Fun Football, we also contribute to tackling three of Nigeria’s most pressing challenges, namely ethno-religious conflict, child protection and lack of opportunities for young people:
Playing for peace
In Nigeria, the relationship between Muslims and Christians is fraught with suspicion, fear, discrimination, and violent confrontation, and improving relations between these groups is essential to achieving lasting stability and peace in the country. The basic purpose of Fun Football is bringing people together to communicate, play, and cooperate across religious, ethnic and social divides in a positive setting. Fun Football thereby creates a safe space within the conflict that breaks down barriers between people, allow them to form new perspectives, and develop relationships that can grow outside the football field.
Child protection
Six out of every ten children in Nigeria experience some form of violence in their daily lives and around 20 million do not go to school – one of the highest numbers anywhere in the world – due to security fears and extreme poverty (UNICEF). Nigerian children, especially out-of-school children, are furthermore at risk of recruitment by criminal gangs and extremist groups. Our Fun Football volunteers create child friendly spaces for hundreds of children who would otherwise roam the streets and be highly vulnerable to exploitation and recruitment.
Youth empowerment
Nigerian youths are facing critical levels of un- and underemployment with nearly 53% of young people struggling in the job market. Moreover, the country lacks quality education and opportunities for skills development. Unemployment and poverty often serve as breeding grounds for social instability and violent conflicts in Nigeria as lack of economic opportunity exacerbate grievances among different groups. Meanwhile many young men with limited life prospects find that their only option is to join criminal gangs or armed militias, thereby contributing to the perpetuation of violent conflict and instability. By becoming volunteer Fun Football coaches and through Cross Cultures’ Youth Leadership Education, young participants develop transversal skills such as organizing, communication, social entrepreneurship and conflict management among others, a platform to address social and civic issues, along with a diverse social network, ultimately enhancing life opportunities and personal agency.
UEFA Foundation for Children (2024-2025)
Last updated 12th March, 2025
After five decades of civil war
After five decades of intermittent civil war, most children and youth in South Sudan have lived their whole life in a fragile, conflict-ridden environment characterised by violence, abuse, fear, displacement, poverty and interrupted schooling. The country suffers from a staggering 72% school-dropout rate among children under 15, a 70 % illiteracy rate among the population above 15, and an 80% extreme poverty rate. Consequently, the majority of the population depends on humanitarian assistance, especially people living rural areas, where opportunities to create a sustainable livelihood are even scarcer than in cities.
With this tragic situation as a backdrop, Cross Cultures introduced the Open Fun Football School program in South Sudan in 2018 with a goal to promote peace, change violent behavior among children and youth, and build their capacity to do good for their communities through grassroots football.
Currently, Cross Cultures is implementing a resilience programme in four states across the country that works to empower young unemployed women and men through our Youth Leadership Education as well as increase child protection. The young partipants are trained in how to organise grassroots football and various life-skills afterschool activities for vulnerable children with the primary goal of helping out-of-school children off the street and back to the classroom. Throughout the leadership education, the participants learn important transversal skills such as planning, communication, networking etc. and are subsequently, offered either vocational training or apprenticeships in local businesses.
As part of this job training component, Cross Cultures recently launched a tailoring initiative, where the participants produce t-shirts for the Open Fun Football Schools. So far, the programme has been highly successful with tens of thousands of children engaged in football and other after-school activities every month, hundreds of youth volunteers as well as strong local partnerships within both civil society and government.
Finally, Cross Cultures collaborates with the Dutch Football Association, KNVB, on the ‘More Football’ initiative, where a selection of young men and women receive additional training in football coaching.
