The FIFA Foundation was established in 2018 as an independent entity with the goal of mobilising the positive power of football to improve lives.

Central to the FIFA Foundation’s activities are tackling social issues affecting young people, empowering women and girls to play football and realise their full potential, repairing damaged or destroyed sports infrastructure, supporting education through football and using some of the beautiful game’s most celebrated icons to reach out to millions of people globally with positive messages for a more inclusive world. 

Naturally, social responsibility is ingrained in the activities of the FIFA Foundation and it established the following programmes to support this: - Foundation Community Programme - Recovery Programme - Football for Schools Programme - Campus Programme - Refugee Programme - Employee Volunteer Programme In the post-COVID-19 world, the FIFA Foundation will harness the unique power of football to create a sense of reconnection in society, to promote and support mental health awareness, to empower and inspire people to use football for healthy minds and bodies and most importantly, to instil a sense of healing and unity through the beautiful game.

The Foundation Community Programme supports organisations that use football as a tool for social change and to improve the lives of underprivileged people around the world. Once a year, the FIFA Foundation invites established non-profit entities to apply for project funding in order to use football as a tool to address social issues affecting young people such as education, health, peacebuilding, refugees, leadership and gender equality.

In times of great need, the Recovery Programme supports communities that have been hit by natural disasters or unforeseen events by providing solidarity and emergency funding, which can be used to repair damaged or destroyed sporting infrastructure.

Football for Schools is designed to use the beautiful game in schools as a tool to deliver fun and interactive education about important life-skills and positive values to boys and girls across three age groups (4-7, 8-11 and 12-14 years). It will also aim to address some of the social challenges facing young people in the world today, including bullying, staying in school and leading a healthy and active lifestyle.

Football for Schools hopes to distribute eleven million footballs to schools in the countries of all 211 FIFA members associations (MAs). Concretely this means 700 million children are expected to benefit from the initiative, which aims to make football more accessible to both boys and girls around the world. Pilot projects for the Football for Schools programme have already been launched in Lebanon and Puerto Rico. The full-scale implementation of the initiative will take place as soon as the global health situation improves enough to allow it.

The Campus Programme is brand new global initiative that gives girls and boys from under-privileged backgrounds the opportunity to play football and develop their personal and social learning in a safe environment during school breaks. Conceived in 2020, it was officially launched in Yerevan, Armenia, at the beginning of May 2021 and will be rolled out to additional MAs around the world.

The Refugee Programme is currently being developed and will aim to provide relief to refugees by increasing their participation in local football activities and improving the football infrastructures available to them. The programme will promote social inclusion and cohesion through football and help refugees to rebuild their lives.

The Employee Volunteer Programme gives FIFA staff the opportunity to use part of their annual leave to work with charitable organisations supported by the Foundation Community Programme.