“Pass it on – Hope through football” – FIFA Conference for Equality and Inclusion

Pictured from left to right at the conference are: Sarah Crumbach (10th Edition), Solomon Mudege (10th edition) and Honey Thaljieh (12th edition).

This month, FIFA held its fourth Conference for Equality and Inclusion at its headquarters in Zurich. The CIES and FIFA Master Alumni community have particularly strong links with this important event as the founder and project lead for the Conference is FIFA Master 12th edition graduate, Honey Thaljieh.

The day included a mixture of keynote talks and panel sessions for the specially invited delegates who are all involved in the fight for a fairer society without discrimination, and to find solutions as to how the equality gap between men and women can be closed.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who welcomed the participants, explained the steps that the organisation has taken to address this important area of activity and FIFA’s plans for the future. "Equality and inclusion: two important words for the world – and of course for the world of football," said President Infantino. "Even if we are just taking care of football and our goal is to organise football, we are also aware of our tasks and responsibility that go beyond football. Football can have much strength and can be a force for good. We at FIFA take it very seriously. We have increased the number of women in our council from one to six. We appointed a lady as Secretary General – for the first time in over 100 years in the history of FIFA."

Honey Thaljieh said, “When I was a little girl, I loved kicking around a football with the boys in the narrow streets of my hometown Bethlehem. In the midst of layers of social, political, and economic barriers, football was the only way to distract me from the many challenges and helped me to overcome the walls and restrictions. Football gave me a feeling of freedom. Remembering the days when football became my secret weapon against these difficulties, I realized the importance of sharing such opportunities with the world – this is the moment the FIFA Conference for Equality and Inclusion was born”.

In closing the conference, FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura, added, "I cannot think of a greater good than pursuing equality".

Congratulations to Honey from the FIFA Master course team on another highly successful conference and also to those FIFA Master alumni who attended and contributed to the important discussions on the day.