Football for Friendship sets new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ and reaches more children at the end of its Ninth Season

As the Gazprom Football for Friendship programme reached the end of its Ninth Season it has continued to grow and united children from all over the world through football. Over the previous nine seasons, the programme has united 211 countries and regions, over 16,000 participants and 6 million supporters.

And in this season saw the introduction of the Football for Friendship eWorld Championship held on the F4F World multiuser simulator which launched in December 2020 - it is available for free across multiple platforms and in 27 different languages. Based on the key principle of Football for Friendship, the competition saw teams of mixed nationalities compete and the eventual winners were Team Argali, who were represented by players from Aruba, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Mexico.

Yazn Taha, a 14-year-old commentator from Syria, commented on the game while Young Journalists from Bangladesh, Bolivia, Hungary, and the USA were named the best journalists following their work in the International Children’s Press Center, and the articles, interviews, and reports they’ve prepared were published by the leading sports media in different countries.

As has become a tradition over the last few years, another GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title was set during the Ninth Season. Previously records had been set for the most nationalities in a football training session in history and the most users at a football video hangout, but this season the record was set for the most users to visit a virtual stadium, which helped show the successful transformation of the project from offline to online.

And the good news did not stop there as coaches and players from over 350 football academies and sports schools participated in the sports, ecological, and educational events of the programme. Social initiatives of academies from Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Togo became winners of the International Football for Friendship Award.

While another 14 football academies received grants to develop children’s football and promote the values of the programme among their students, including academies from Bolivia, Canada, Columbia, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago.

World Cup winner Roberto Carlos, Global Ambassador of Football for Friendship said: “I was happy to become the Global Ambassador of Football for Friendship this year. The common relevant values promoted by the project are important for the youth and their future. 

“As a professional player and now a coach, I know how important it is to not only be a good football player, but also have strong character and be able to communicate with people from different countries, representatives of different cultures. This way, Football for Friendship truly makes our world a better place.”

While Viktor Zubkov, Gazprom Chairman of the Board of Directors, added: “I’m happy that Football for Friendship unites more and more friends and supporters around the world. Not only among children but their parents, as well as football clubs and academies. 

“Gazprom carries out many social initiatives, including in sports. In my opinion, Football for Friendship is one of the most needed and important international social projects, especially today.”

What the Football for Friendship programme aims to show is that everyone who takes part, regardless of nationality, gender, and physical abilities, can unite to work in a team together.

And all former participants later become Young Ambassadors for the programme and continue to share their experience and to promote the universal human values which Football for Friendship stands for: friendship, equality, fairness, health, peace, devotion, victory, traditions, and honour.

To find out more, go to the Football for Friendship website.