Charity initiative Common Goal hits first anniversary

Common Goal, the football initiative that vowed to change the world, celebrates its first birthday on Saturday, August 4.

Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata kick-started the charity into action last August when he pledged to give one percent of his salary away to help underprivileged people around the world.

With the help of streetfootballworld founder Juergen Griesbeck, Mata put the campaign on the map and now has 57 fellow contributors including Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel, Fulham's Alfie Mawson, Mats Hummels of Bayern Munich and Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus.

Nearly £615,000 has been generated with £385,000 already invested into 27 grassroots football projects around the globe.

During the World Cup, Common Goal, worked with WeWork and Facebook, to raise over £85,000 for football organisations tackling issues such as gender equality, social inclusion and access to education.

And two weeks ago Common Goal received one percent of gates of an official UEFA fixture. The first professional club to join the movement, FC Nordsjaelland from Denmark, printed the pledge on tickets for their Europa League qualification match.

This season, every team at FC Nordsjaelland, from U12s to the first team, will take responsibility to raise funds for an organisation benefiting from Common Goal. The players will then travel to visit the organisations over the summer.

'We believe that it is a club's responsibility to offer a holistic education to players and Common Goal is the best tool available,' said club Chairman, Tom Vernon. 'It's vital that players are made aware of the world around them and the potential they have to unleash football's power for good.' It looks likely that more clubs will follow suit.