Children all over the world set new record as part of Gazprom’s Football for Friendship programme

(Gazprom Football for Friendship)

Children and young people from all over the world came together to set a brand new world record as part of Gazprom’s Football for Friendship programme by participating in the Stadium is Where I Am online football event.

With more than a thousand young footballers, the event was the largest online football event to date, establishing Football for Friendship (F4F) as one of the leading online football initiatives in the world..

The new record, certified by Guinness World Records™, was set on December 5. Over a thousand young football players took part in the show finale,

Stadium Is Where I Am, part of the vast F4F youth programme, is an interactive show where football freestylers and professional players teach young participants new tricks via videoconference. The closing show of the season was hosted by a number of famous athletes, including FIFA World Cup winner Roberto Carlos and six-time World Freestyle Champion Mélody Donchet.

Some of the tricks were performed by children themselves. Young F4F Ambassador from Pakistan Farzad Mehboob showed the audience a technique called “drive stroke” that allows a player to rapidly change direction on the field.

While most international youth sports programmes had to postpone their projects under constant lockdowns, the brainchild of Gazprom successfully moved its activities online and managed to expand its audience. Nearly 1 million people from 187 countries took part in the 2020 online events of Football for Friendship.

On World Football Day, F4F released a new multiplayer football simulator: Football for Friendship World stands out among previous football gaming titles because every player controls a single in-game athlete, not the whole team, making it the first major football simulator of its kind. New developers, consultants and Ugandan musicians were brought in to create the game.

“I loved this season a lot because I enjoy playing both football and videogames. We learned a lot and I met new friends from different countries! I think the best thing about the game is using superpowers, I wish I had them in real life too", — says Oliver Bago Ugiagbe, a young F4F participant from the UK.

Football for Friendship is an international children's social programme organized by Gazprom since 2013. Over 15 thousand boys and girls have already taken part in Football for Friendship events. UEFA, FIFA, IOC and other organizations as top football clubs of the world support the program.

“Today we can be proud of a whole new generation of aspiring athletes, activists and journalists whose careers were kickstarted by Football for Friendship,” — says Viktor Zubkov, Chairman of Gazprom Board of Directors.

In 2015 Football for Friendship established the Nine Values Cup, a unique trophy awarded annually to professional football clubs for both sporting achievements and social initiatives. The winners are chosen by the children participating in the F4F programme for showing the strongest commitment to the F4F values: friendship, equality, fairness, health, peace, devotion, victory, traditions, and honor. This year the Cup has been awarded to FC Barcelona (Spain).

Fatma Samoura, Secretary-General of FIFA, called football “a holistic and inclusive tool for social change”.

“Football is important because it allows people from different cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds to come together. At the same time football is used as a driver for the planet, it is used to build bridges and to bring people from different communities together and to include them in the game,” — said Samoura, addressing Football for Friendship participants.