The Chelsea Foundation announced on Monday the launch of a new partnership with the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation and the Israeli Football Association (IFA) to help expand a sports program for Jewish and Arab children in Israel.
The Playing Fair, Leading Peace program, which has been in place since 2016, engages Jewish and Arab university students in a soccer-based, anti-discrimination and leadership training program. Following their training, they work in mixed Jewish-Arab pairs to bring inclusive soccer activities to classes of Jewish and Arab schoolchildren.
The collaboration is part of the Chelsea Foundation’s “Say No to Anti-Semitism” campaign, which began at the end of 2018.
Chelsea FC chairman Bruce Buck said, “During our visit to Israel, we saw firsthand the power football can have in bringing together communities and breaking down barriers. We hope that this new initiative will empower children to harness the respect and fairness in football and use those values to promote greater tolerance, unity and inclusion in society.”