Eight social projects, located in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Fortaleza, were awarded this year with more than R$ 600,000 by the Future Sport program, created by Betfair in 2023. The initiative, which has already distributed R$ 1.4 million since then, aims to promote social inclusion through grassroots sports, benefiting vulnerable communities and fostering values such as discipline, resilience, and teamwork.
To celebrate the expansion of the project, Future Sport brought three athletes who were at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to visit the NGOs and see their work up close.
The guests were Caio Bonfim (silver medal in Race Walking), Ana Sátila (finalist in Canoeing K1 and C1) and Edival Pontes “Netinho” (bronze medal in Taekwondo), who participated in the visits at the end of November.
After visiting the NGOs ACER, Gol de Letra, and Associação Acorde, in Greater São Paulo, Caio Bonfim spoke about his emotion upon discovering the projects: “These are organizations that you see are really having an impact on society, and you want to be part of it, in some way. So much so that when I received the Olympic medal, I thought about setting short, medium, and long-term goals”.
“In the short term, it was this: to inspire in some way, to leave a legacy. It has been a very cool experience. To truly live the sport, you need to be humble. Today I am a medalist, but in the next competitions, I will still need to keep chasing”, he added.
Netinho went to Fortaleza to visit the NGO Esporte Mais, and stated: “I always get emotional when I come to a humble neighborhood, because it reminds me of the time I started. I always wanted to be in touch with an Olympic medalist, and this moment only came at 15 years old, when I had contact with Natália Falavigna. That moment was too important for me, because I thought she didn't even exist in real life, only on television”.
“So I know that being here today, is to show these young people that it is possible, is to make them believe that they can. The sooner they have contact with the project, with an athlete or Olympic medalist, the better to encourage. The sooner they start, the better”, said Netinho.
The canoeist Ana Sátila also expressed her joy at participating in the actions promoted by Future Sport: “I was very happy with these visits. Being with the audience of these institutions, hearing their stories, curiosities, and sharing a bit of my experience was transformative. I think our role in society is to collaborate, whether with presence, motivational words, or opening doors to a better future”.
“This project is about hope, dreams, and opportunities. I intend to return, live more moments like this, and continue being part of it. It was a huge pleasure”, said the athlete, who visited two NGOs based in Rio de Janeiro, Bola pra Frente and Abraço Campeão”, concluded Sátila.
Transforming communities through sport
This year, Future Sport announced support for eight projects, developed by six NGOs. Each NGO has a unique approach to promoting the development of its attendees.
Three of the selected NGOs are part of the Lupa do Bem network, an online platform that generates visibility for initiatives and social organizations in Latin America, through interviews and journalistic articles.
“It was a great joy to provide the public served by these social projects the opportunity to have direct contact with Brazilian Olympic athletes who stood out at the Paris games this year. Betfair strongly believes that it is part of the role of companies to return to society part of their profit through their corporate social responsibility initiatives”, said Sue Hammett, head of corporate social responsibility at Flutter.
“We have been doing this in other countries where we operate and in 2023 it was time to start this work in Brazil. Our intention is to keep Future Sport active and expand its reach in the coming years”, adds the executive.
The NGOs selected to receive the resources of the Future Sport project in 2024 and that were visited by the Olympic athletes are:
* Bola pra Frente, in Rio de Janeiro, combines sports practices with educational guidance and family values. The organization has been active for 24 years in socially vulnerable communities in the northern zone of the municipality. In 2024 alone, 500 people were served by the Perfect Crossing project, a program that works sports and culture, stimulating the development and construction of skills and competencies, from age learning cycles.
* Abraço Campeão, in Rio de Janeiro, works with children and young people, through activities such as boxing and martial arts, educational cycles of school reinforcement, mentorships, and assistive follow-up, in addition to the development of leaderships. More than 3,000 lives have been impacted, with about 300 children and young people served weekly.
* Instituto Esporte Mais, in Fortaleza, with 10 years of operation, the NGO benefits 1,500 children and adolescents per year. The organization stands out for its work of empowering girls and women through sport. One of the projects carried out seeks to encourage women's soccer, benefiting 200 people. Now, the Fights for Equality project serves 160 children and young people, between 6 and 19 years old, in two cities in Ceará. The project seeks to encourage the culture of peace and provide access to some fighting modalities.
* Associação Acorde, in São Paulo, works with sports and cultural workshops to ensure safe spaces for young people for 23 years. The organization has already impacted 3519 children and adolescents, in addition to the 660 families that have developed in partnership with the organization's projects, which are socio-educational programs that cover cultural and sports development, quality education, and healthy eating, among others.
* ACER Brazil, in São Paulo, was started with the intention of offering an effective path of recovery for street children. Thirty years later, the mission remains, promoting human and community development, through various socio-educational and sports-related activities, to encourage youth protagonism. Football, Boxing, Karate, and Athletics classes are offered, always aimed at inclusion and social development.
* Gol de Letra, in São Paulo, seeks to contribute to the education of children and young people from socially vulnerable communities, using sport as a tool for social transformation. The Open Game Program is one of the projects that brings sports culture closer to comprehensive education. Through this, children can experience different sports modalities, in addition to receiving psychosocial support. In addition, 20 young people from the community served receive training to become monitors and thus, multipliers of the knowledge acquired there, strengthening the work in the network.
Social investment accumulated exceeds R$ 1 million
Created in partnership with the international organization GlobalGiving, Future Sport has already directed R$1.4 million to 12 Brazilian initiatives in its two years of existence, impacting more than 3,000 lives just in 2023. The project is part of the social responsibility actions of Flutter Entertainment, the controller of Betfair, and seeks to leverage sport as a tool for inclusion and social change in Brazil.
Betfair
One of the largest providers of online sports betting in the world, Betfair is the official sponsor of the Cruzeiro and Vasco da Gama teams.
The company, founded in London in 2000, was a pioneer in offering peer-to-peer betting (Betfair Exchange) and manages a full suite of sports betting, entertainment events, and online gaming products for more than four million customers over 18 years old worldwide.
Thanks to its cutting-edge technology, the platform offers a wide catalog of products that allows betting with your own odds and odds offered by other users.
Betfair is licensed to operate online betting and other games in 19 countries, including Spain, Italy, Malta, and Great Britain. Play responsibly.
Future Sport
Future Sport was created in 2023 and is a non-profit charity project in partnership between Betfair and GlobalGiving. In the two years of the project, R$1,400,000.00 has already been donated to 12 social initiatives in Brazil.
Aiming to improve local communities across Brazil, the project mainly focuses on helping associations that work with sports, which Betfair believes can stimulate the imagination, make bodies active, ignite passions, and expand minds.
In addition to supporting projects that improve health and well-being through sport, Future Sport hopes to increase support for projects that use technology for good. The project's goal is to become driven by the Brazilian Betfair community, with members regularly contributing insights that drive future decisions.
The Future Sport project demonstrates Flutter's commitment to Do More for its communities, as part of its global sustainability strategy, the Positive Impact Plan.
The goal of Do More is to improve the lives of 10 million people by 2030, something possible thanks to the scale of Flutter and the collective passion of its employees.
GlobalGiving
GlobalGiving makes it possible for individuals and companies to support local projects anywhere in the world, offering non-profit organizations access to financial resources, tools, and training needed to make our world a better place.
Source: GMB
