Eight social projects, located in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza, were awarded more than R$600,000 this year through the Esporte Futuro project. The initiative was launched by Betfair in 2023 and has already accumulated R$1.4 million distributed over two years.
The projects aim to promote social inclusion through grassroots sports. In this way, it benefits vulnerable communities and promotes values such as discipline, resilience and teamwork.
To celebrate the expansion of the project, Esporte Futuro took three athletes who were at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to visit the NGOs and learn about 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.
Betfair takes Olympic athletes to NGOs and inspires young people
After visiting the NGOs ACER, Gol de Letra and Associação Acorde, in Greater São Paulo, Caio Bonfim spoke about his excitement when learning about the projects promoted by Betfair:
“These are organizations that you see are really having an impact on society, and you want to be part of that, 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: inspire in some way, leave a legacy. It’s been a really cool experience. To truly experience sport, you have to be humble. Today I’m a medalist, but in the next races I’ll still need to keep chasing.”
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 takes me back to the time when I started. I always wanted to be in contact with an Olympic medalist, and this moment only came at the age of 15, when I had contact with Natália Falavigna. That moment was really important to me, because I thought she didn’t even exist in real life, other than on television.”
Canoeist Ana Sátila also expressed her joy in participating in the actions promoted by Esporte Futuro da Betfair: “I was very happy with these visits. Being with the public of these institutions, listening to their stories, curiosities and sharing a little 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.”
Transforming communities through sport
The NGOs selected to receive resources from the Esporte Futuro project in 2024 and which were visited by Olympic athletes are:
- Ball Forward (Rio de Janeiro). It combines sports practices with educational guidance and family values. The organization has been working for 24 years in socially vulnerable communities, in the north of the municipality. So, in 2024 alone, 500 people were served by the Cruzamento Perfeito project, a program that works with sport and culture, stimulating the development and construction of skills and competencies, based on age-based learning cycles.
- Embrace Champion (Rio de Janeiro). It works with children and young people, through activities such as boxing and martial arts, educational cycles of school reinforcement, mentoring and assistance support, in addition to leadership development. More than 3,000 lives have already been impacted, with around 300 children and young people served weekly.
- Instituto Esporte Mais (Fortaleza). With 10 years of operation, the NGO benefits 1,500 children and adolescents per year. The organization stands out for its work to empower girls and women through sport. One of the projects carried out seeks to encourage women’s football, benefiting 200 people. So, now, the Fights for Equality project serves 160 children and young people, between 6 and 19 years old, in two cities in Ceará. In this way, the project seeks to encourage the culture of peace and provide access to some forms of struggle.
Accumulated social investment exceeds R$1 million
- Acorde Association (São Paulo). It has been working with sports and cultural workshops to ensure safe spaces for young people for 23 years. The organization has already impacted 3,519 children and adolescents, in addition to the 660 families that developed in partnership with the organization’s projects, these being socio-educational programs that cover cultural and sporting development, quality education and healthy eating, among others.
- ACER Brazil (São Paulo). The organization began its activities to offer an effective path to 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 leadership. Football, Boxing, Karate and Athletics classes promote inclusion and social development among students.
- Gol de Letra (São Paulo). It seeks to contribute to the education of children and young people from socially vulnerable communities, using sport as a tool for social transformation. So, through this, children can experience different sports, in addition to receiving psychosocial support. Furthermore, 20 young people from the community served receive training to become monitors and thus multipliers of the knowledge acquired there, strengthening network work.
Created in partnership with the international organization GlobalGiving, Esporte Futuro has already directed R$1.4 million to 12 Brazilian initiatives in its two years of existence, impacting more than 3 thousand lives in 2023 alone.
Therefore, the project is part of the social responsibility actions of Flutter Entertainment, Betfair’s parent company, and seeks to leverage sport as a tool for inclusion and social change in Brazil.