How alternative does the following sentence sound: A non-for-profit organization, led by students, claims to be a “social movement” and focuses on football?
This is Passion FC, an up and coming unique football community.
While many students across the globe are busy looking for internships and advancing their future careers, some are focusing their efforts on the greater good. Passion FC, a non-profit founded by a group of students from 8 countries, is of the second group. They are young and ambitious, with a clear goal: they are trying to create a platform where social issues can be confronted through conversation – around football.
With a recent campaign sharing in-depth stories discussing Argentine supporters, the Passion FC team recently released a unique campaign sharing female football stories across the Middle East.
“The Wa Ana Kaman project came about after many conversations that different Passion FC community members had. Often conversations would lead to the misconception that women in the Middle East do not participate nor do not have an interest in football. I can tell you that while being from Syria and living in Abu Dhabi, and travelling between countries, this could not be more wrong. We love football here.” said Leila Al Dzheref, Passion FC’s Managing Director of the Middle East and Eastern European regions.
Wa Ana Kaman. An inspiring project by young students. (Photo: Passion FC’ Instagram)
As a movement that stands for equality and dialogue in football, Passion FC encourages conversations around this topic. Wa Ana Kaman’s aim was to get these conversations going beyond the Middle East. It is important to understand that women are facing not only local traditional and cultural limitations that prevent them from playing; The perception of them from the “outside” at times can discourage them from believing that they can change the way things are.
In the 14 stories that Passion FC released, the storytellers emphasized not only their achievements (quite inspiring on their own), but also what does football mean to them.
“We wanted to get to the root of their passion and show the journey that it created. All stories have moments of persistence and never giving up. This was very inspiring for us to see, but sadly we also understood how the culture of female football in these countries is undervalued and viewed as non-existent, uncommon and often prohibited.” said Arik Rosenstein, Passion FC’s Founder and CEO.
Initially, this campaign aimed to change people’s perception and dissolve stereotypical thoughts of female football in the Middle East, exposing what often goes unseen and unheard. It surpassed our expectations. We saw how our community got engaged by commenting, supporting, and sending messages of encouragement to each other. For the Wa Ana Kaman week, our platform gave the safe space for people to share their opinion and words of appreciation without being labelled as “tomboys” or “girls with no right to play.”
Passion FC are putting out great stories and are looking to expand its in-person activities as soon as it is safe to do so.
For a better view at Passion FC’s Wa Ana Kaman campaign, on their instagram account.
