The Peres Center For Peace in Israel is the winner of the 2011 FIFPro Merit Award. The world professional footballers’ union awarded this prize to the Israeli charity for its Twinned Peace Sport Schools project.

A delegation of FIFPro recently issued the Merit Award, a $25,000 check, to representatives of the Peres Center For Peace and the Twinned Peace Sport School project.

This proved to be quite a happening, as FIFPro’s Secretary General Theo van Seggelen and FIFPro’s Merit Award spokesman Tony Higgins joyfully also handed out medals to 70 Jewish and Muslim children who took part in the project.

‘We all know the cliché, which is also very true: sport has the capacity to unite, to transcend factional conflicts and bring disparate groups together. Jewish and Muslim children exercise together, learn each other’s language, have fun together and befriend each other. Maybe in the near future, they can help bring peace to this region. The Twinned Peace Sport School gives these children hope for peace, and that’s why it is a truly worthy winner of the FIFPro Merit Award’, Said Tony. 

http://www.fifpro.org/news/news_details/1776