As an exciting sign of things to come, the first ever Football for Hope Festival was officially opened yesterday in Santiago de Chile amid a riot of colour and music. With the historical Palacio de la Moneda as a backdrop, the Plaza de la Constitución played host to some exceptional footballing skills, excellent examples of fair play and an important milestone for the Football for Hope movement.

Led by a band of drummers keeping a very Latin American beat, few could have missed the delegations’ colourful procession through the centre of Santiago. Armed with multi-coloured team flags, banners and sports kits, young people from all corners of South America and South Africa danced their way to the specially constructed street football stadium, where they were welcomed first by an acrobatics display and then by members of the organising committee

An official welcome
Federico Addiechi and Jürgen Griesbeck, of FIFA and streetfootballworld respectively, welcomed the delegations on behalf of the Football for Hope movement, with words of encouragement also coming from Harold Mayne-Nicholls, President of the Chilean National Professional Football Association, and Pablo Hewstone, Chief Executive of local organiser CHIGOL.

The third half
Following the “tercer tiempo”, or “third half”, methodology of street football, the two competing teams come together before the game to decide upon the rules for the match (for example: goals scored by a girl count as two goals and everyone - even the losing team -celebrates a goal), then hold a second discussion post-match to award points to the other team according to their behaviour on the pitch and how well they followed the agreed rules.

First match: CHIGOL-South Africa
In the opening match, host team CHIGOL held special guests South Africa to an exciting yet goalless draw, but the goals were flowing more freely throughout the afternoon’s play. The skills on display kept the delegations on their toes and crowds of local Santiagans stopping during their lunch breaks to enjoy some exciting street football.

More to come!
The street football tournament continues on Friday in the underprivileged neighbourhood of Cerro Navia and on Saturday in the Parque Forrestal, with main roads being closed on both days to create a true street football atmosphere. Under the blue skies of Santiago and with such a great atmosphere among the delegations, we are sure to have two more exciting days in store. 

Written by Chrissy Davey

Read the December 1st article

Read the December 3rd article

Read the December 8th article (with slideshow)