A ground-breaking ceremony has been held to mark the construction of a new Football for Hope Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, which is part of FIFA’s legacy plans for the 2010 World Cup.
The township of Khayelitsha is to be the first to benefit from the "20 Centres for 2010" campaign, which aims to establish community football centres at locations across Africa, including Mali, Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda.
It is hoped that the Football for Hope Centres, which will include rooms for public health and education services, a common space for community gatherings and a football pitch, will help to address a number of social issues facing the region.
Grassroot Soccer, a South African not-for-profit organisation that uses football to educate local young people about HIV and AIDS prevention, has been selected to manage the new Khayelitsha centre with guidance from the Khayelitsha Development Forum.
Work is being carried out by the charitable organisation, Architecture for Humanity, while GreenFields has been appointed to develop the synthetic turf systems that will be used for the pitches.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said: "This campaign emphasises the power of football far beyond the boundaries of the pitch. These Football for Hope Centres will provide a platform for communities to address social issues such as children's rights, education, health, HIV/AIDS prevention, social integration and the environment.
"The centres will leave a legacy for Africa that will last long after the final whistle of the 2010 FIFA World Cup has been blown."
