Football for Hope garnered FIFA second place in SportAccord’s Spirit of Sport Project Awards.

The initiative, which includes the 20 Centres for 2010 programme, financial support for grassroots organisations and international events such as the Football for Hope Forum and the Football for Hope Festival 2010, is the result of an alliance between FIFA and streetfootballworld.

Many streetfootballworld network members have benefitted from Football for Hope since its inception in 2007.

A true honour
FIFA Vice-President Issa Hayatou accepted the award, saying, “On behalf of FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, I would like to express our gratitude for this recognition. We are deeply honoured to receive the Spirit of Sport Award for our Football for Hope programme, and for our efforts to building a better future.”

SportAccord President Hein Verbruggen said: “The quality of the applications submitting this year was outstanding. We congratulate all our nominees and shortlisted projects.”

The top Project Award went to Special Olympics, with the International Paralympic Committee coming in third for its project ‘Engineering the Future – Promoting Paralympic Sport in Africa’.

SportAccord is the umbrella organisation for all international sports federations as well as organisers of multi-sports games and sport-related international associations. It currently has 104 members.