The EU Champions Making Waves at GGWCup NYC Finals 2019
Announcement
Team Hestia FC to represent the GGWCup Europe and the EU’s commitment to tackling the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals through sport and physical activity.
New York, September 24, 2019
The 4th annual Global Goals World Cup (GGWCup) tournament held during the Global Goals Week will engage people around the world in action around the Sustainable Development Goals. Held on the 48th floor of the SAP Next Gen space at Hudson Yards, the tournament puts a spotlight on the actions teams have and continue to take to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than 4,000 women have played in the Global Goals football network, and have produced more than 22,500 actions for the Goals.
Participating teams include those teams which qualified after winning one of the past GGWCups which took place in Copenhagen, Czech Republic and India. Amongst this group of qualifying teams is Team Hestia FC, who will through their football and social activism skills, represent not only Greece, but the 12 other European teams and coaches who participated in the GGWCup Ambassador Coach program and the GGWCup Europe.
The European Cup was unique in many ways. It is an Erasmus + project, planned and implemented with the financial support of the EU. It was designed to reach specific outcomes: creating innovative solutions to reach women who have had previous barriers to participating in sport, promoting physical activity through a social purpose (global goals) + physical benefits model of engagement and working with and alongside female coach ambassadors to learn from their experiences co- creating solutions for engagement.
Katerina Salta, EU Coach Ambassador and her co- football coach, Mary Gavala and host organization the International Olympic Truce Centre have led Team Hestia FC on a journey from their founding as the first refugee women’s football club to equipping the players with both football based skills and global goals knowledge to planning and implementing actions towards their overall goal of peace, justice and strong institutions. Their individual and team stories inspired not only the entire group of EU coach ambassadors, their teams and the audience present at the GGWCup Europe but also an international audience, who learned about the team through various global media platforms, such as such as BBC, Associated Press, The Chicago Tribune and the New York Times.
As a team which developed out of the combination of the EU Coach Ambassador program and the GGWCup Europe, Team Hestia FC also represents the commitment of the EU to Agenda 2030 and the sustainable development goals with a particular focus on health and gender equality. The female players playing for Hestia FC, including the Greek volunteers, are now part of the emergence of a new European community of active women, who through their positive images, stories and actions have become physically and socially active role models. The global goals actions and impact achieved by this diverse group of active women and their teams demonstrate the benefits of combining sport with the sustainable development goals and the importance of having the support from the EU in reaching these scales of impact.
As Team Hestia steps on the pitch for each of their games at the SAP Next Gen space in NYC, their many supporters will be cheering loudly for them Ireland, United Kingdom, Spain, Romania, Malta, Denmark, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Sweden, Austria and two cities in Germany. No matter the team’s results, no matter if they aren’t the ones to carry home the championship trophy, there will be a celebration in the EU to acknowledge and celebrate the efforts, actions and commitment this team has made to the global goals and making the world a better place to live in.
Monday evening, September 22nd, Katerina Salta held a talk at the European Union Delegation to the United Nations in New York to share about the project.
Silvio Gonzato Ambassador Deputy Head of Delegation @ the EU delegation to the United Nations will join the GGWCup NYC Finals 2019 and award ceremony Wednesday September 25th.
Social Media
@GGWCup #GGWCup #TakeTheBall
Twitter: @EUErasmusPlus #ErasmusPlus
European Union Delegation to the United Nations in New York
Twitter: @EUatUN
Instagram: @euatun
@ValedeAlmeidaEU: João Vale de Almeida is the Ambassador of the European Union to the United Nations (former EU Ambassador to the US and Director General at European Commission).
#EUatUN and during UNGA, we'll also be using #EUatUNGA
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.