Diary notice: 15.5.2023
From May 15 until June 4, “The Ball”, Football’s Olympic Torch, will travel through Indonesia. The Ball is making its way around the globe from Battersea Park in London, where the first official football match was played, to Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, where the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will begin on July 20, 2023.
As The Ball makes its way around the globe, it collects signatures from people who promise to support efforts to achieve gender equality and climate action. The Ball has been signed by almost 56,000 individuals worldwide since 2002. Over 30 events and work-shops that promoted action on gender equality and climate change among football aficio-nados were put on by 57 partner groups between 2022 and 2023.
The Ball in Indonesia
The Ball will visit several NGOs and schools in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, and then travel further East to Bali. The Ball in Indonesia is supported by the Swedish Postcode Foundation and the German Embassy in Jakarta.
The Ball in Jakarta (May 15-24)
May 16: Meeting with Arena FC Women, a club where women of different ages are playing
May 17: Meeting with Indonesia’s Women’s National Team Assistant Coach, Coach Yopie
May 18: Mixed Fairplay session at Bundesliga’s Common Ground Pitch
May 19-20: Workshop at German School Jakarta on sustainability, gender equality and fair play, including input by the Borussia Mönchengladbach CSR strategy
May 21: Workshop with climate justice advocates and sustainability community leaders at Anindhaloka hub
May 22-23: Workshop at the University of Indonesia with sustainability advocates and university students in collaboration with Anindhaloka and the local NGOs Koprol Iklim & Cerah Indonesia
The Ball in Bali (May 24 – June 4):
May 26: Presentation of The Ball at Community Festival at Green School
May 29-30: Workshop on sustainability, gender equality and fair play at Green School Bali
May 31-June 4: further activities (tbc): Football and fair play camp with the Green School and Brandon McDonald (former professional US soccer player); beach football + beach cleanup sessions
Next stops
After Indonesia, The Ball will travel through the Pacific, visiting the Fiji and Kiribati Islands, two of the world’s countries most affected by climate change.
Prominent supporters
The first person to sign The Ball on its 12-month global climate action and advocacy mis-sion was Katie Rood, the professional footballer who plays for Hearts FC and the New Zealand National Team had this to say:
Everyone loves the World Cup, but if we are to be able to continue playing it in the future, we need collective and urgent climate action. The journey of The Ball across land and sea from London to New Zealand is an opportunity for football to get its environmental act in order. I am going to take action. Are you?
Spirit of Football’s Ambassador and Liverpool F.C. manager Jürgen Klopp is also supporting The Ball:
It is a ball for us all. Be part of our team. Everyone can play. Respect your team-mates, your opponents and the environment. One Ball, One World.
Do you want to be involved in the project? Follow The Ball’s journey and make your own pledge. To find out more about the non-profit organization Spirit of Football.
Background Information
Supported by the FIFA Foundation and the Swedish Postcode Foundation, Spirit of Football de-veloped and tested educational resources with our partners Pledgeball and Football for Future focusing on sustainability and football from March to December 2022. We have been using these re-sources running workshops in several countries and are rolling them out on a gender equality, sus-tainability and climate action tour with The Ball in 2023.
The Ball is being carried (and kicked) by a team of educators from Spirit of Football and our non-profit gender equality partner Equal Playing Field in collaboration with our football for good network part-ner Common Goal. Together we will deliver workshops and run an advocacy campaign that begins in Vietnam (March), makes its way across South East Asia (March to May) and into the Pacific (June), eventu-ally reaching New Zealand (July) and Australia (August) in time for the 2023 FIFA World Cup. We are the official sustainability partner of Festival 23 – the youth festival being organised by Football United (and Common Goal) in Sydney in August 2023.
People we meet are being asked to make personal pledges in terms of gender equality and also for our planet (sustainability). We are connecting to like-minded partners around the world and en route through Asia and into the Pacific to learn from them and to highlight their work at the same time.
The Ball was presented in cooperation with the United Nations UNFCCC at COP 27 in Egypt last November.
For more information, please contact:
Iris Albulet: iris[at]spiritoffootball.de and Andrew Aris: andrew[at]spiritoffootball.de
Press release - The Ball has reached Indonesia - 15 May 2023
Download Press release - The Ball has reached Indonesia - 15 May 2023