The Danone Nations Cup is back for a 2019 edition! With the World Finals set to take place in Barcelona on October 12th, 2019, the biggest U-12 football tournament will gather 2 million girls and boys from 27 countries, all competing for a chance to represent their country at the Finals. To celebrate more than 20 years of excellence in football, Danone Nations Cup has unveiled a refreshed purpose and image, with a stronger-than-ever echo to our ‘One Planet. One Health’ vision.
MORE THAN A FOOTBALL COMPETITION, A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE…
Our vision reflects our belief that the health of people and that of the planet are interconnected. Danone Nations Cup has long been a strong platform for this promise, with the aim that the players will embody it in playing a role for their future and for the world they live in.
For over 20 years, the Danone Nations Cup has been much more than a football competition, allowing kids from all over the world to discover new places and cultures and promoting values such as respect, humanism, fair-play and openness.
In addition to being a high-level sports competition with ambassadors such as Zinedine Zidane, and past competitors such as Alexandre Lacazette, Giovani Dos Santos or Adam Lallana, the Danone Nations Cup aims to be a sustainable tournament with a reduced environmental footprint. This is achieved through recycling, as well as grass-roots initiatives at local levels to encourage the children to care for their environment.
Danone aims to promote inclusive diversity and change mentalities when it comes to gender equality. Since 2017, the Danone Nations Cup champions inclusivity through a girls’ tournament, which saw 1st time participating countries such as Argentina, Japan, Uruguay and South Africa.
… TURNING PLAYERS INTO WORLD CITIZENS
For children, access to safe drinking water plays a key role in shaping their future. At this time, 50% of schools around the world don’t have access to safe drinking water. The Danone Nations Cup strives to stress the importance of safe water access, to ensure that no child’s potential is hindered.
This year, through a partnership with Watering Minds- a nonprofit organization-, and the LACES FOR CHANGE initiative, the goal is to provide access to safe drinking water to over 100,000 kids through laces sales, ticket sales, and a crowdfunding campaign, all set to begin in May 2019.
Watering Minds’ mission is to provide safe drinking water access to disadvantaged schools worldwide and the players taking part in the Danone Nations Cup will act as ambassadors of this cause, by wearing and promoting the laces to show their solidarity, raising awareness on an issue that is dear to us all.
Read the full press release here.
