AFDP Global (Association Football Development Programme) is an international football

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ca ...

and was launched in October 2018 at the

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacity ...

in London. AFDP Global is the successor organisation to the Asian Football Development Programme (AFDP) which was founded by

Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein Prince Ali bin Hussein ( ar, الأمير علي بن الحسين; born 23 December 1975) is the third son of King Hussein of Jordan, and the second child of the king by his third wife, Queen Alia. He is also the half brother of King Abdullah ...

in 2012 and focused on Asia and the Middle East. Its achievements included reaching over 80,000 young people directly through its projects; training over 500 coaches, administrators and referees in refugee camps, schools and clubs; distributing 100,000 footballs to young people's programmes and organisations and completing 30 projects reaching 25 countries. AFDP Global extends this remit so as to reach more children in disadvantaged communities worldwide. The organisation campaigns to promote respect, equality and tolerance in football. __TOC__

History

Following allegations of sexual and physical abuse concerning the Afghanistan national women's football team, AFDP Global convened a round table in London on Feb 5th 2019 which recommended

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

set up a fully independent enquiry into the abuse and establish a proper grievance procedure to protect the victims. Following the round table, Kelly Lindsay, coach to the Afghanistan national women's team, began working with AFDP Global to promote good governance in women's football. AFDP Global continues to highlight this case and other issues affecting women's football. In June 2019,

Keramuddin Keram Keramuddin Keram (born 1 January 1962) is an Afghan politician who served as Governor of Panjshir Province from 21 April 2010 until 2 November 2013. Keram served as the President of the Afghanistan Football Federation from 2004 until 2019, when h ...

, President of the Afghan Football Association, was banned for life by FIFA because he had "abused his position and sexually abused various female players, in violation of th
FIFA Code of Ethics
. In March 2019, the organisation named former France and Liverpool Manager Gerard Houllier, Canadian international

Karina LeBlanc Karina Chenelle LeBlanc (born March 30, 1980) is an American-born Canadian former professional soccer goalkeeper and current general manager of the Portland Thorns FC. She played for the Canadian national team and multiple professional women's ...

and former Arsenal and France footballer

Robert Pires Robert Emmanuel Pires (born 29 October 1973) is a French association football, football coach and former professional Football player, player. Pires played for French clubs FC Metz, Metz and Olympique de Marseille, Marseille prior to his time wi ...

as its first three ambassadors. In July 2019, AFDP Global launched the Fearless Football campaign to end abuse, harassment and exploitation of female players in world football. It is supported by 75 senior figures from the women's and men's games, including

Aleksander Čeferin Aleksander Čeferin (, born 13 October 1967) is a Slovenian lawyer and football administrator. Between 2011 and 2016, he was president of the Football Association of Slovenia. Since September 2016, he has been the president of UEFA. Career Afte ...

, President of

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

, current Chelsea Women's Manager

Emma Hayes Emma Carol Hayes (born 18 October 1976) is an English professional football manager. She is currently the manager of FA WSL club Chelsea Women. She previously served as the head coach and director of football operations for Chicago Red Stars o ...

and former international footballers

Eniola Aluko Eniola Aluko (born 21 February 1987) is a football executive, commentator, and former professional player. She is the first Sporting Director for Angel City FC of the American National women's soccer league and formerly held the position of Spor ...

Heather O'Reilly Heather Ann O'Reilly (born January 2, 1985) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Irish club Shelbourne of the Women's National League. She played for the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT), w ...

Kelly Smith Kelly Jayne Smith (born 29 October 1978) is an English former football forward who spent three spells with FA WSL club Arsenal Ladies. After moving to the United States, Smith broke records with Seton Hall University then played professionally ...

Khalida Popal Khalida Popal (pashto: , born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1987) is an Afghan football player and director. Popal is the founder and director of Girl Power Organization, the Program and Event Director of the Afghanistan Women's National Football Team, ...

Jamie Carragher James Lee Duncan Carragher (; born 28 January 1978) is an English football pundit and former footballer who played as a defender for Premier League club Liverpool during a career which spanned 17 years. A one-club man, he was Liverpool's vic ...

Robbie Fowler Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player, who most recently managed East Bengal in the Indian Super League. As a player, he was a striker, and is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the history ...

Louis Saha Louis Laurent Saha (born 8 August 1978) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. Saha was capped 20 times for the France national team and scored four goals. A former scholar at the Clairefontaine football academy, h ...

and Landon Donovan.

References

{{reflist 2018 establishments in the United Kingdom Football organisations in the United Kingdom Social enterprises Think tanks based in the United Kingdom