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FIFA YOUTH PROGRAMME

Photo: Action Images

FIFA Youth Programme makes dreams come true Coming face to face with international football stars is the biggest dream of any child, and for close to 4,000 children next summer, this dream can come true at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. The kids that form the FIFA Youth Programme all play an integral part of the game, whether as part of the pre-match line-up ceremony, such as with the Player Escorts and Flag Bearers, or to make matches run like clockwork, such as with the Ball Crew kids. Altogether, 60 children participate in each match, with 22 chosen to be Player Escorts, 14 to be the Ball Crew, 12 to be the two sets of National Flag Bearers, 6 to be FIFA Fair Play Flag Bearers and 6 to be FIFA Flag Bearers. For the FIFA Confederations Cup, the youngsters have all been recruited from different regions all around South Africa and for the FIFA World Cup next year, FIFA’s sponsor family will be recruiting children from all around the world. The children involved in the youth programme are from between six and eighteen years old, depending on their selected duty: the Player Escorts range from six to ten years old whereas the Ball Crew members are from twelve to eighteen. The youth programme has been a regular fixture in every FIFA competition since the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and demonstrates the importance FIFA places on enabling children to connect with football, even from an early age and regardless of gender.

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Coca-Cola Ball Crew The Ball Crew’s main responsibility is to retrieve balls going out of the field of play at all FIFA World Cup matches. While doing so, they also must ensure the most uninterrupted flow of play possible, which makes them too key players in the competition.

• 14 kids per match • 15 to 18 years old • Recruited internationally

Kids at the FIFA Confederations Cup were recruited through local schools and youth football clubs as well as via a special selection process within SOS Children’s villages throughout South Africa.

McDonald’s Player Escorts • 22 kids per match (11 per team) • 6 to 10 years old

The 6-10 year olds walk onto the pitch hand-in-hand with their football idols. McDonald’s will recruit 1408 kids to be Player Escorts for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ alone. To give more kids the chance to participate, there are always new kids per match. For the FIFA Confederations Cup, kids were given a chance to win a spot on the Player Escort roster via in-store promotions, such as Happy Meal and tray liner entry forms as well as through Radio & TV promotions, enticing kids to go enter in stores.

FIFA Fair Play Flag Team activated by adidas These flag bearers carry the yellow FIFA Fair Play Flag on to the pitch during the line-up ceremony in front of the competing teams while the FIFA anthem plays.

• 6 kids per match • 12 to 16 years old

Kids for the FIFA Confederations Cup were recruited primarily through in-store promotions, whereby kids could complete entry forms including a short essay question asking why they wanted to share the pitch with their football heroes, with a small number also drawn from a partner township locally.

Coca-Cola National Flag Team These flag bearers carry the two competing national teams’ flags on to the pitch during the line-up ceremony in front of the competing teams and referees.

• 12 kids per match (6 per Flag) • 12 to 18 years old

For the FIFA Confederations Cup, kids were selected through a promotion that aired on SABC Radio, SABC TV and in Spar in-store promotions.

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FIFA Flag Team activated by Sony These flag bearers carry the blue FIFA Flag on to the pitch during the line-up ceremony in front of the competing teams while the FIFA anthem plays.

• 6 kids per match • 13 to 16 years old

At the FIFA Confederations Cup, four kids per match were recruited through an essay contest conducted in local schools. An additional two kids per match were chosen through a sticker collection campaign in the Daily Star, a national South African newspaper.

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The Youth Programme would be impossible to implement without FIFA’s Sponsor Family, and specifically a select group comprised of adidas, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Sony. Running promotions to select the children, arranging for their travel to and from matches, providing uniforms and catering and then training and monitoring the kids on-site is an enormous logistical exercise, primarily because of the huge number of people involved. The fact that McDonald's received more than 2,000 applications for the 2009 edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup for the 352 spots as Player Escorts speaks volumes for these coveted positions. Every application has to be scrutinised for suitability based on qualifications and age. This process alone requires many hours of examination. Therefore, FIFA Sponsors have special project teams devoted solely to managing each of their respective youth programmes. The FIFA Youth Programme calls for a lot of organisation before and during the game. All kids come to the stadium over 5 hours prior to Kick Off each match day for a general training session, with the members of the Ball Crew completing an additional and specialized training day several days before their assigned match. Children are always accompanied by their chaperones. For the hours between the match day rehearsals and the actual time to enter the pitch, the kids are entertained by the FIFA Sponsors’ project teams, who provide for not only outdoor football matches (where space allows) but also indoor games such as table soccer, PlayStation3 and other board games, with all equipment being provided for free by the sponsors. Additionally, all food and beverages for the entire group of kids is part of the sponsors’ engagement.

Photo: Action Images