FIFPro news
Shabani Nonda wins FIFPro Merit Award 2009
Thursday 26 November
Shabani Nonda is the winner of the 2009 FIFPro Merit Award. At the general assembly in Budapest the members of FIFPro rewarded the Congolese international player for his work for charities.
The players’ association Union des Footballeurs Congolais had nominated Nonda for the Merit Award. The 32-year old striker of Galatasaray and former player of Blackburn Rovers, AS Roma, AS Monaco, Stade Rennais and FC Zürich earned his nomination for two reasons: the Sbabani Nonda tournament and the charity match for peace in DR Congo.
For seven years the Shabani Nonda Foundation has organised a football tournament for poor children in the age from 12 to 15 in Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo. Because of the poverty these children hardly enjoy a real school vacation. Each year 350 children participate in this tournament, since the first edition more than 2.000 kids have played in this event. The kids also received a donation for school supplies and a school fee.
Nonda and the Congolese players’ union initiated a match on 27 December 2008, with the themes ‘Ensemble pour la Paix’ (Together for Peace) and ‘Paix en R.D.C., Yes we can’ (Peace in DRC, yes we can). In Kinshasa a selection of Congolese internationals playing in Europe faced the ‘local’ national team players, who, in March 2009, went on to win the first African Cup for footballers playing in Africa. The gate receipts of 25.100 US dollar were donated to victims of violence.
One of the objectives of this match was to reconcile the people from DR Congo, who have suffered from multiple wars in recent history. Another aim was to comfort victims of violence, and the players also wanted to make up for their failure to qualify for the 2008 and 2010 African Cup of Nations and the 2010 World Cup. FIFPro grants the winner of the Merit Award 25.000 US dollars, which have to be spend on a charity program. Shabani Nonda has already promised the Union des Footballeurs Congolais to invest the prize money on the fight against poverty in his native country.
The delegation of Union des Footballeurs Congolais celebrates in Budapest
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