For the Love of the Game: The Story of the One World Futbol Project

A soccer ball is a simple thing, but it can mean more than you can ever imagine.  It is beautiful when it comes off the foot of Andres Iniesta to give Spain their first ever World Cup title. It was a goal that energized a nation and at the same time served as a tribute to a fallen Espanyol player. 

It is special when it is placed in the crib of the Kljestan brothers by a father who loved the game that was forbidden for him as a child, but wanted to give his sons a lifelong gift.  The gift was one that has served Gordon and Sacha well. 

It is treasured by a young fan when it is signed by their favorite player. It represents a memory that will nuture dreams and a passion for the game we all love. 

It is practical as it is put through countless hours of use by a youth player just learning the beautiful game. But what is even better than all of these? A ball that brings joy to a child in an impoverished country. The One World Futbol does just that for children in over 60 countries from South Africa to Ghana to Haiti to the Sudan.  It is a miracle wrapped into a ball, a ball that never goes flat and can be used on any surface.  The ball is in use at refugee camps, city streets, dirt fields, beaches, you name it and it performs there. 

The One World Futbol Project offers an innovative “Give One Get One” offer, which means you get an ultra-durable ball that will excel in recreational play and at the same time you will be giving another ball to a child in need. So who came up with this ingenious idea? The same person who decided to use this invention for the greater good, not for profit and self-promotion.  Tim Jahnigen, with the financial support of musical icon Sting, made the first One World Futbol and the rest is history. 

The One World Futbol in action in Kenya.

ISN talked directly with Tim to hear more about his dream, his goals for the future of the product, and the impact it has made in the lives of children in the most difficult conditions around the globe. 

1.  What are some long-term goals for the initiative? When can you call it a success?

We have a number of long-term goals, not the least of which is to raise awareness for the importance and role that play has on children, young adults–and older folks as well. We are also focused on delivering a million balls to communities in need within the next few years.

There are many ways that we might measure success. For me, each person who stepped up with their skills, wisdom and network after hearing about our mission–whether from us or secondhand–signaled a success. We also felt greater success when we learned that our earliest prototype balls delivered to a child soldier rehabilitation camp more than a year ago were all still in use–and had saved that organization from having to buy a thousand balls each of the last two years. And for years to come.

But truly, I will know that we have succeeded when we have enough support from individual and corporate sponsors to have moved our first million balls. Though that may sound like a big number, there are 19 million children in Afghanistan alone. There are over a billion children in the world today who are in at-risk situations. Even if we got one One World Futbol to every tenth child, at a million balls a year it would take a century to fulfill our mission!

2. What motivated you to do something so charitable when the product could clearly be so profitable in the mainstream?

To be honest, the question of purpose or charity was simply a given in this case. This project and technology was inspired by, and engineered expressly for, children in general but children in the harshest, scariest, most inhospitable environments in the world, specifically. We, here at home, have the luxury of choosing where we want or wouldn’t want to raise our children. But these children and their families have no choice–they must adapt and survive where life has put them. Our project and the One World Futbol, is about letting them thrive right where they are. The ball plays a fundamental role in supporting the important work of people and organizations on the ground in these places who strive to let these children know that they are important and that they are part of a bigger family and community than the often narrow, restricted or besieged group of adults that they have come to know.

That we have the opportunity to offer a unique product for sale in world of commerce is a bonus and it is then up to us to make that, in terms of best business practices, a success on it’s own merits. We look to make profit and we look to build our brand because we have families to support and other ideas to pursue. However, we get to manifest and utilize those profits in a unique way. As a B Corporation, which believes in the Triple Bottom Line of People, Planet then Profit, we get to help create the path forward for others who want to be of service with their innate skills and ideas and to possibly contribute, along with many others in this growing mission-driven business space, to the discussion of what profit is and where it belongs in the economy of our global village.

3. Can you discuss some of the key NGOs that you have partnered with and how they have expanded the mission of the initiative? 

We’ve been fortunate to be able to get in front of most of the key players in the world of sport for peace and development–as a result of our launch at the World Cup in South Africa (July 2010) and our attendance at events such as the Beyond Sport Summit, the Global Action Forum and the Peace and Sport Forum International. The One World Futbol has made contact with several entities within the UN, the US Military, the US Dept of State, Grass Roots Soccer, Right to Play, Street Football World, various Ministries of Youth and Sport from all around the world, the Nike’s and Puma’s of the world along with the first responders in times of disaster.

We currently have One World Futbols in with over 90 such groups in over 75 countries. But as I’ve said before, while this is something to celebrate and acknowledge, it really doesn’t reflect how urgent and far reaching the need is and how motivated or even desperate, if you will, we are to get our message out and to fulfill our mission. There are so many opportunities for us to collaborate and contribute. Any organization or group whose work touches the lives of children in any way is a potential partner for us.

4.  Can you talk about the team you have assembled to push this initiative forward?

Our core team is a blessing in and of itself. It is a team of leaders and innovators in their own right and all of them come with impressive and instructive energy, wisdom and legacy. Their names and bios are available on our website, www.oneworldfutbol.com, and that is just our core members. Our team or family of advisors and supporters is quite long and includes simple yet vitally important contributions from people such as Yan Bilodeau, who helped make the molds work, to Ryan Savage who synthesized a lot of data and input in order to translate my vision then create and render that into the look of the ball we currently use. The group of people and companies that handle PR and IT and back office support are an amazing and select group of service providers that chose us as much as we chose them. So much dedication and above-and-beyond performance is humbling and inspiring.

5. What is your connection to soccer? How can sport change and improve the lives of the less fortunate? 

In high school, I was actually very athletic and played almost every sport there was, but nowadays as an adult, I rarely tune into any professional sports. However, my step-sons, Alex and Tomas, are half Salvadoran so their father taught them to love the game from the time they could walk–and as a result, the “beautiful game” has been part of my daily life as a soccer parent for the last decade.

I admire those who participate in the game with honor and gratitude, whether professionally or on the edge of civilization. Soccer, Football or Futbol truly is a beautiful game, which is why it is the most played sport on the planet. It has captured the imaginations of people and is played passionately and at every possible opportunity in places where there is no field by people who have no ball. 

Soccer is now being used by various organizations as a delivery system for knowledge and information that not only saves countless lives but can improve the quality of every life. On a daily basis millions of children while experiencing the joy of the game and getting a break from the tedium and trauma of their daily circumstances, also get a nudge onto a better path by organizations and NGOs that train coaches to become mentors and educators about things like AIDS prevention, land mine awareness, gender equality and conflict resolution. 

We know that sport brings peace. We’re about to celebrate the centennial of the Christmas Day Truce of WWI. In 1914 in Northern Belgium a one day truce was called to observe Christmas. Spontaneously, the British and German soldiers kicked a soccer ball around in the No Man’s Land between them. The next day when they were ordered to start shooting again they had to be replaced by fresh recruits because they had bonded as people, though they didn’t speak the same language or dress the same way, they saw each other’s humanity and could no longer pull the trigger on someone they had come to know. 

The weakest yet most important aspect of all of this incredible work is the ball. All soccer balls are designed for the ideal conditions of a level grass or turf field. And, they all require a pump. But, it turns out that most players don’t have a field. Or a ball. When traditional soccer balls hit twisted metal from a car bomb, a barbed wire fence from a refugee camp or the jagged rubble from the aftermath of an earthquake or flood, these balls become trash. They cannot be repaired.

The One World Futbol allows these children be children. It allows them to play to their hearts content and not just until the rare ball they are given is destroyed. In addition, because it replaces up to thousands of balls in its lifetime, it allows the organizations, whose budgets are always tight, to focus on improving their program instead of worrying about where to get more non-durable balls.  

As you can see the One World Futbol is a beautiful ball for the beautiful game. It is more than just a ball; it is something that represents the essence of the human spirit.  Doing something for your fellow man, not for self-promotion or legacy or profit, but simply because it is the right thing to do.  This project is destined to make a difference one ball, one life, and one child at a time.