Every year FIFA tests hundreds of footballs as part of the FIFA Quality Programme for Footballs to ensure that each football meets the quality standards stipulated in the Laws of the Game.

Rather than simply store the tested balls, FIFA has identified opportunities led by some of its employees and internal stakeholders to distribute these samples to projects that can benefit from them.

In this post, discover two examples of how these samples have been put to good use in Zimbabwe and Switzerland.

St Giles Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe Football and disability in Zimbabwe was in the spotlight last year when Zimbabwean defender Hardlife Zvirekwi returned to the Premier Soccer League following the amputation of his hand and his subsequent rehabilitation. The most well-known physical rehabilitation centre in Zimbabwe is the St Giles Medical Rehabilitation Centre in Harare. The staff at this centre are trying to form a football team. They mentioned this ambition to FIFA and during a visit to the Zimbabwe Football Association, football samples were handed over to the St Giles staff team. We hope that they are doing well in the lower leagues of football in Harare.

Ethiopian Diaspora Association in Switzerland (EDAS) EDAS is “a non-political and non-religious, open to all Ethiopian nationals or any nationals of Ethiopian origin, residing in Switzerland”. EDAS regularly organizes football tournaments for its members. Various equipment is needed to stage a successful football tournament and EDAS actively seeks partners and sponsors. After having reached out to the Ethiopian Football Federation for support, the FIFA Member Associations Division volunteered to assist and avoid the shipment of football from Addis Ababa to Zurich. Football samples were handed over to EDAS for their next youth tournament!