Empower Youth Through Soccer in Recife, Brazil

Dear love.fútbol friend,

We’ve been making major strides down here in Recife and we thought we’d send you an update. We’ve added several great partners and new groups of supporters, and we’ve found many, many more communities in need of our work.

Love.futbol recently partnered with Brazilian first-division soccer club Nautico to introduce our work to their fans and supporters. Nautico featured the love.fútbol logo on their shirts during a league game against their crosstown rivals Sport Recife and placed banners in the stadium. The game was televised nationally on Brazilian television and generated scores of interviews and media appearances. With love.futbol’s outreach to professional soccer teams, word is spreading and we are gaining recognition throughout many parts of Brazil.

Also, love.futbol has teamed up with GUERREIRASPROJECT, a female-empowerment initiative that brings female soccer players into impoverished communities to serve as positive role models for young girls. The partnership represents an innovative approach to gender and ‘sport for development’ through which safe football spaces, professional female players, and local communities are brought together to inspire and motivate girls. Love.futbol’s community-driven approach creates the physical and psychological football space as a platform for future development. The GUERREIRASPROJECT builds the capacity of professional female players to serve as role models and ambassadors of the game in the community; and a 10-week local campaign titled ‘Não Se Pode Ser o Que Não Se Pode Ver’ (You Can’t be What You Can’t See) is used to launch the gender-sensitive space. This space serves as a community platform for increasing the visibility of female role models, allowing their voices to be heard, and enabling new voices and bodies to participate in the nation’s most popular game. Ultimately, the project uses football as a tool for challenging narrow gender norms that have restricted girls’ and women’s involvement in the game, while simultaneously promoting individual and community empowerment.  As, the GUERREIRASPROJECT visits communities, it is identifying the communities that love.futbol will target in the near future.  

We're excited about everything we’ve been able to accomplish with your support thus far! We’re gaining momentum and are hoping to reach more and more kids as we gather steam. Please stay in touch and continue to support us! Spread the word among your friends and family and urge them to support us with a donation or with their time!

Thanks for being part of the love.fútbol family,

The love.fútbol team

Links:

• love.futbol featured on Brazilian national TV!