Championing children in Lisbon
domingo, 25 de mayo de 2025
Resumen del artículo
The 2025 UEFA Women’s Champions League final provided a perfect backdrop for the UEFA Foundation for Children’s efforts to give vulnerable young people life-long memories, true to the organisation’s guiding principle that every child is a champion.
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Cuerpo del artículo
The UEFA Foundation for Children gave 40 children from the CAIS Association (Associação de Solidariedade Social) the opportunity to experience a European club final, as they watched Arsenal and Barcelona’s thrilling encounter at the Estádio José Alvalade. A day earlier, the children also had the chance to get autographs from and take pictures with stars like Alessia Russo and Alexia Putellas during an unforgettable meet-and-greet session at the stadium.
Continuing the foundation’s efforts to use UEFA’s showpiece occasions to provide memorable moments for vulnerable children, match tickets were provided to another 10 young people from Sports dans la Ville – a French sport-for-social-change organisation that is part of the UEFA Foundation’s Dreams programme.
As the dust began to settle on Arsenal’s victory, six-year-old Alice Pecheco from the CAIS Association took centre stage, joining UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin to hand out the players’ medals. Alice lives in Beja, where the CAIS Association has supported her family for many years. Her father, Fabio, is not only a former beneficiary of its work but now gives back as head coach of the association’s football programme in Beja.
The CAIS Association
The CAIS Association is an NGO operating in Portugal that is dedicated to improving the lives of people facing social and economic exclusion.
Founded in 1994, it focuses on improving employability and access to employment, inspiring confidence and combatting homelessness. It uses football as one of its vehicles of change, and has previously won a UEFA Foundation for Children Award.
The CAIS Association was instrumental in the opening of Portugal’s first Lay’s RePlay pitch – an ongoing UEFA Foundation-supported initiative that transforms empty crisp packets into sustainable football pitches. The pitch was inaugurated in the lead up to the Women’s Champions League final, aided with €150,000 contributed by the UEFA Foundation towards the pitch’s construction.
Find out more about the new pitch in Lisbon
Sport dans la Ville
A long-standing partner of the UEFA Foundation, Sport dans la Ville is one of France’s leading non-profit associations. It promotes integration and access to employment through sport and running programmes for thousands of young people living in underserved areas.
The organisation reaches out to children and young adults through sport, providing not only opportunities for physical activity but access to employability programmes, professional development training and mentoring to help them enter the job market.
Ten years of supporting vulnerable children
The UEFA Foundation for Children celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, marking a decade of impactful work and significant contributions to the lives of disadvantaged children facing daily challenges. Established in 2015, it has supported 577 projects across 138 countries, reaching nearly five million people. These efforts have promoted children’s rights and used football as a positive catalyst for improvement in areas such as health, education, personal development, inclusion and employability.
