Generation Amazing, a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 legacy initiative, has long promoted using football to impact people’s lives in communities across Qatar and around the world.

More than 1 million people in over 35 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Americas have benefited from Generation Amazing Foundation’s football programmes, according to a recent report.

Generation Amazing Foundation was launched in 2010 by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) to support vulnerable and displaced people through sports and outreach programmes, after Qatar won the bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2022. 

Over the past 10 years, the foundation  has built more than 30 football pitches for underprivileged communities across the Middle East and Asia in collaboration with other organisations, including FIFA Foundation, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and  Qatar Foundation’s Education Above All. 

“By using the power of football, participants in our programmes learn key life skills such as teamwork, leadership and communication, to address social issues in the places they live,” said Nasser al-Khori, executive director, Generation Amazing Foundation. 

“With the support of our partners, Generation Amazing is making an important global contribution and working hard to leverage Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup.”

Generation Amazing Community Clubs are active in four countries, assisting people in organising social events, learning essential life skills, and developing a sense of community.

Community Clubs were first established in India and the Philippines in 2020, with new facilities opening earlier this year in Qatar and Rwanda.

Since 2019, Generation Amazing has also organised the Generation Amazing Youth Festival, an inclusive platform that aims to inspire young people and introduce them to ways they can positively contribute to social change in their communities.

 This year’s festival will feature schoolchildren from all 32 competing nations in the FIFA World Cup.

“The positive impact that we have had on young people who come from challenging circumstances has been one of our most rewarding experiences,” said al-Khori. 

Football for peace

Recently,  Generational Amazing teamed up with other organisations to support forcibly displaced children in various African nations through the “Football 4 Development Playbook” (F4DP) toolkit.

Announced in August, the toolkit is part of the collaboration between Qatar’s Generation Amazing Foundation, Education Above All Foundation  and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to a joint statement by the three entities, the project aims to support displaced populations in Chad, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The initiative pays special focus on developing the children’s social inclusion, cohesion and wellbeing.

Last year, Generation Amazing launched in an effort to support Afghan evacuees in Qatar last year following the Taliban takeover of Kabul on 15 August.

The Gulf state had evacuated more than 70,000 Afghans and foreigners at the time.

The sporting organisation had set up a library for children located at the temporary compound while providing them with daily educational activities. 

In May this year, Generation Amazing and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) completed an 18-month project that promoted key values such as resilience among disadvantaged communities in Argentina, Iraq, Myanmar and Uganda.

Titled ‘Uniting Through the Power of Football’, the programme reached 1,400 direct beneficiaries and 19,000 total beneficiaries in 24 communities.