Fútbol Matters have been awarded a £100,000 grant to further their work in creating a safe spaces for children living in Mexico City through football.
The grant was awarded as part of the City Football Group - Manchester City, New York City and Melbourne City - community campaign Citizens Giving, which calls on football fans to make a difference to communities across the globe and vote for the most inspiring projects. The more votes a project gets, the more funding it will receive.
Out of six football and social inclusion projects, Fútbol Matters was the most voted in 2016.
The grassroots project, constituted of 40 young leaders, engages and trains youth leaders to plan refurbish and manage their own football fields in areas of the Mexican capital affected by violence.
The project enables diverse community leaders to form a local internal committee responsible for the ongoing maintenance and management of the facilities. The initiative aims to be a lasting and tangible symbol of community strength and unity, centers of community and platforms for sustainable change.
In addition to this, Citizens Giving will also help young leaders in five other cities – Beijing, Manchester, Melbourne, New York and Bandung in Indonesia – to deliver their football-based community work.
This year’s campaign distributed £400,000 in grants and saw over 392,932 life-changing votes cast football fans around the world.