Football is more than just a game

BRUSSELS: I have never been a footballer. Yet during nearly 20 years at the UN, I witnessed something that profoundly changed the way I see the game: Football is far more than a sport.

In Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, I attended a tournament organized by the UN peacekeeping mission. Young people from communities that had recently been on opposite sides of a violent conflict were playing together on the same team. I still remember the moment when Gloire a Dieu passed the ball to Moussa. It was an ordinary pass, yet it carried extraordinary meaning. Only a few years earlier, their families had been enemies.

The tournament was never just about football. Through training sessions, matches and informal encounters, young people gradually learned to trust one another again. They discovered respect, cooperation and, above all, the possibility of a shared future. Football did not erase the past, but it helped rebuild confidence where it had once disappeared.

I have seen that same power elsewhere. In Rwanda, football encouraged children to attend school, where they also received meals through the World Food Programme. Across Africa, some of the continent’s best-known players used their public profile to support the Roll Back Malaria partnership, helping persuade families to protect their children against one of the world’s deadliest diseases. Football was not simply about scoring goals. It was helping to save lives.

That is why the recent controversies surrounding FIFA, and the perception that politics has found its way onto the pitch during this World Cup, concern me deeply. FIFA owes supporters, players and national associations complete transparency. If its rules have been applied correctly, it