"6 villages for 2006" - Official Charity Campaign of the 2006 FIFA World Cup
20/07/2006
SOS Children - the real winners of the World Cup!
Fabio Grosso' penalty in Berlin on 9 July not only signalled victory for Italy and the close of another World Cup, but also the successful conclusion of "6 villages for 2006", the joint World Cup campaign between FIFA and SOS Children's Villages.
The Official Charity Campaign of the 2006 World Cup saw the world of football digging deep into its pockets, easily exceeding the £12 million fundraising target and ensuring that the real winners of this year's World Cup are some of the world's most vulnerable children.
The funds raised will go directly to providing over 800 orphaned and abandoned children around the world with a new family home in an SOS Children's Village, as well as provide support for over 5000 children and 1000 families through additional community outreach programmes.
World Cup stars, including Andriy Shevchenko, Wayne Rooney and Fabio Cannavaro, as well as The FA and Celtic FC, all pledged their support for the campaign and the six new villages, which are nearing completion in Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Ukraine and Vietnam.
Donations have come in all shapes and sizes, including fines from red and yellow cards at the World Cup itself. Federico Addiechi, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at FIFA, commented on FIFA.com: "The '6 villages for 2006' campaign is the most ambitious charitable initiative ever attached to a World Cup. Clearly it is an excellent cause and, as well as raising money, I hope and believe that we have increased awareness among those watching and taking part in the tournament."
Andrew Cates, Chief Executive of SOS Children's Villages UK, added "We're delighted that FIFA's long-term support for SOS Children's Villages has been translated so successfully to the world's largest sporting event. A big thank you to football fans around the world!"
Thanks for getting involved!
The "6 villages for 2006" campaign saw a mass of exciting fundraising activities taking place through summer 2006 and even though the World Cup has finished, you can still click on the links below to find out what's been going on.
Auction of a unique World Cup autograph book - FIFA donated a book of all 736 players' and managers' autographs to SOS Children for auction. Find out more here
Keepy Uppy Challenge - In 2006 we got kids up and down the country to put their ball skills to the test and raise money for the "6 villages for 2006" campaign. The challenge was a huge success and raised over £10,000!
So, this year we've decided to do it again! The 2007 Keepy Uppy Challenge, in cooperation with The Great Football Giveaway, aims to raise enough money to send 3,000 footballs to Angola. Find out more about the campaign and dowload resources on the 2007 Keepy Uppy Challenge page.
SOS Children World Cup Prediction Competition - The competition has finished and we have a winner! Find out how the competition went here.
The Beautiful Game art exhibition and auction - silent auction of a unique painting of Wembley Stadium throughout June and collections at the football-themed exhibition. Read about it here
SOS World Cup News
Did you know that fines from red and yellow cards distributed at the 2006 World Cup went to the "6 villages for 2006" campaign or that escort kids at the matches wore "6 villages for 2006" campaign T shirts?
Read about all the events that took place with our FIFA/SOS Ambassadors and activities for the campaign during the World Cup as well as all kinds of interesting facts and figures on our SOS World Cup news pages.
FIFA/SOS Ambassadors
Around the world SOS Children has over 100 footballing ambassadors supporting the charity. Here in the UK, we are extremely lucky to have two of the nation's greatest names backing the "6 villages for 2006" campaign... Wayne Rooney for England and Gordon Strachan for Scotland.
Find out more about these and other stars' support of the campaign on our FIFA/SOS Ambassadors page.
SOS Children and its footballing partnerships
In December 2005, The Football Association announced SOS Children as one of its official charity partners for 2006 and pledged its support for "6 villages for 2006". Read more about the partnership here.
Celtic FC has also signed up to "6 villages for 2006", supporting the new village being built in Rustenburg. Click here for more details about Celtic's support.
SOS Children and FIFA have been partners for over ten years. Find out more about SOS' partnership with FIFA.
Read more about SOS Children's links with the world of football.
For more details on our "6 villages for 2006" World Cup campaign please phone Chrissy Davey on 01223 365589 or email chrissy@soschildren.org
Relevant Countries: Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam.