“Football taught me everything. It changed my life. From my first games on the pavements of Abidjan until my last professional match in the United States last November, football has not only opened doors that I would never have dreamed of approaching, it has...
“Being involved in charities has always been a natural thing for me. Even before the end of my Karate career in 2006, I wanted to transmit knowledge. I wanted to show that behind the champion, behind the medal, there is a career, values, and experience to share....
“Sport has been my luck. It has opened doors that I never even dreamed of. I was born in Toulouse, where I discovered football at a very young age, following the footsteps of my older brother. Then my family – originally from Angola who went to live in the...
The date is an important one. For Peace and Sport, the date of 21 September is always written in capital letters, as is 6 April, which marks International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. Of course, the cause of peace and the struggle for a world without...
I’d dare to see it as a sign. Last month, just one week apart, the paradigm of peace through sport spread across continents and generations. It was written in the present, and linked to the future. On Sunday 26 August in Pelambang, Sumatra Island, a unified Korean...
Was I born in the right place at the right time? Am I just lucky? As I look back, I think I can answer these two questions positively. I was born in Czechoslovakia in 1965. My mother was playing on the international tennis circuit and was single finalist at Wimbledon...
“The curtain has now fallen on the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Over a four-week period, the tournament celebrated football: Its magic, its universality and its power to captivate the public. But once again it also illustrated its ability to unite people over and...
“No other sport is quite like Football. It undoubtedly has the capacity to break down barriers more than any other sporting discipline. Between peoples, between nations and between communities. I experienced this during my playing career, first in Britain – my...
We live in a violent world where, even though diplomacy plays its part, a pervasive element is omnipresent. Every day, news reporters tell us about the horror of conflicts erupting everywhere in the world. When you play sport, friendly confrontation replaces armed or...
Since 2007, when I created the ‘Judo For Peace’ commission within the International Judo Federation, our organization, alone or in association with other structures, has been carrying out many projects with the aim to build a lasting peace in conflict...
What a year! Less than four months have gone by since the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, but the world has already fixed its attention on another global sporting event. The Football World Cup in Russia gives sport another occasion to show its strength and its...
High degrees of vulnerability are deeply entrenched in Nepali society and, among the diverse groups facing daily discrimination and lack of opportunities, are those citizens of the country living with disabilities. Nevertheless, sport is today serving as a platform to...