FIFA Partners with Board of Peace to Build Gaza Through Football

Refugee children in Gaza/DOK UN News

JAKARTA - FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced a "true partnership" between the world football body and the Board of Peace, with plans for a large-scale football infrastructure project in the Gaza Strip aimed at rebuilding communities through sport.

Describing football as a unifying global force, Infantino told the inaugural meeting of the Security Council in Washington, DC, "First point: football, or soccer as it is called here, is the universal language of the world. This language is used by 6 billion people, 6 billion fans who have the same feelings. "

"This is about hope, about joy, about happiness. It's about togetherness and about uniting the world. We will unite the world here this summer during the World Cup," he continued, quoted by ANTARA from Anadolu, Friday, February 20.

Emphasizing that peace is essential to realizing this unity, Infantino announced a "true partnership between the Peace Council and FIFA."

"I'm very proud and very happy to announce this," he said, adding after hearing a presentation at the World Economic Forum (WEF/World Economic Forum) in Davos, Switzerland, "we need to help. We need to do something."

Infantino stated that FIFA's contribution would not only focus on physical infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. "We must also rebuild and build people, emotions, hopes, and trust. And this is the meaning of football, my sport," he said.

During the meeting, Infantino also showed a promotional video explaining the scope of the initiative.

Through the partnership, a complete football ecosystem will be built in Gaza, as explained in the video. The program includes the construction of a football field, FIFA Arena, an academy, and a national stadium.

The plan includes the construction of 50 mini FIFA Arena fields with an estimated cost of 50,000 US dollars (Rp845.5 million) per unit or a total investment of around 2.5 million US dollars (Rp42.2 billion).

In addition, five full-sized fields will be built in five different districts at a cost of around 1 million US dollars (Rp16.9 billion) per field.

The initiative also includes the construction of a FIFA Academy with an estimated investment of 15 million US dollars (Rp 253.6 billion) and a national stadium with a capacity of 20,000 to 25,000 spectators with a value of around 50 million US dollars (Rp 845.5 billion).