Andrews Tetteh: "Football gave me a platform – now I want to give something back"

About the author
Panathinaikos and Greece striker Andrews Tetteh won the 2025 FIFPRO Player Activism Award for his work promoting diversity, inclusion and anti-racism in Greece. Through the funding secured by winning the FIFPRO award, Tetteh and Greek player union PSAPP will host a football festival for refugee children.

By Andrews Tetteh

When I received the 2025 FIFPRO Player Activism Award, I felt honoured. Not because it recognised me, but because it recognised an idea that has always been important to me: that football is much more than what happens during 90 minutes on the pitch.

The award came at a crazy time in my life. I had just completed my move to Panathinaikos, one of the biggest clubs in Greece, and then I made my national team debut. Everything happened very quickly. Most of the attention was on the transfer and playing for Greece, but for me the award meant something different.

It reminded me that being a footballer also means having a responsibility.

As your career grows, your voice reaches more people. Now, if I speak about racism, discrimination or helping others, more people will hear it than before. That doesn’t change who I am, but it does make me think even more carefully about how I use that platform.

Winning the award also came with funding to support a social project. I knew straight away that I wanted to use it to create something that brings people together.

Together with the Greek player union, PSAPP, we’re planning a football festival for refugee children. The idea is simple: to spend a day playing football, meeting players, receiving shirts, and creating memories that last much longer than the event itself.

Last season was so intense that we haven’t been able to organise it yet. Between Panathinaikos, European football and the national team, there were very few free days. But we’re determined to make it happen because we want to do it properly.

Football belongs to everyone, and every child deserves the chance to experience that. That belief isn't something I switch on for campaigns or interviews. It’s simply how I try to live my life.

Last season I met a young boy who was fighting cancer after hearing that I was his favourite player. I visited him quietly because I wanted to surprise him. There were no cameras and no social media posts. We spent some time together; I gave him one of my shirts and we talked. After that, I asked him what celebration he wanted me to do if I scored.

He chose the letter "M", the first letter of his name. When I scored against Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League, I made the gesture to the camera and dedicated the goal to him.

People later found out what it meant, but that was never the point. The important part was hearing from his father afterwards. He told me how much that moment had lifted his son and their family during an incredibly difficult time. 

For me, that feeling was bigger than scoring the goal itself. Making one child smile is more important than kicking a football. The boy is now recovering and his treatment is almost finished. I am still in touch with him and his father.

People often tell me they admire these moments, but honestly, I think helping others should be normal. I've done many things that nobody knows about because I don't do them for attention. If I can help someone, I will. That's enough for me.

The same applies when I visit schools with PSAPP. We talk about racism and discrimination, but we also talk about kindness.

I tell children that if they see someone sitting alone, they should go and speak to them. Not everyone finds it easy to make the first move. Sometimes a simple conversation can change someone’s whole day.

We are all the same. Different skin colours, different nationalities or different backgrounds don't make one person worth more than another.

Football teaches you that.

I often ask myself whether racism in football will ever disappear. I hope one day it does. Until then, we’ll keep fighting against it.

But prejudice doesn’t only exist because of skin colour. People judge others for many different reasons. That’s why I believe education is so important. We have to keep speaking to young people because that’s where real change begins.

As footballers, we can’t solve every problem in society. But we can choose how we use our influence. For me, that’s what this award really represents. It isn’t recognition for work that’s finished. It’s motivation to keep doing more.

If football has given me a platform, then I want to use it to leave something positive behind. Because long after people forget the goals I’ve scored, I hope they’ll remember that I tried to make a difference in someone else’s life.