Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar and others join FIFA’s Football Unites the World campaign

Five billion people will watch the World Cup in Qatar this year as football will once again show its unmatched power to unite the world behind a common goal.

We are living in uncertain times filled with conflicts and global crises. The world is divided.

The FIFA World Cup, however, will harness the power of football to once bring people together to cross borders, as they unite and celebrate together via the Football Unites the World campaign.

The star-studded line-up of players have been influenced by, or creating their own moments of hope, joy and passion that are global hallmarks of the FIFA World Cup. They reference their inspirations from the tournament and their early memories from icons of the global game.

From Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski to Neymar and Lionel Messi, the game’s biggest stars have joined forces with FIFA to explain how the tournament has united groups and communities and brought them together around the world.

As FIFA legend and former Costa Rica star Paulo Wanchope says, “The World Cup is an event that makes the world stop.”

“Because no matter our race, nationality or culture, we all get together to support our team and become one.”

Football has time and again proved it’s incredible power for good off the field – such as Ivory Coast star Didier Drogba’s powerful speech that ultimately played a role in stopping a civil war in the country.

From Juan Mata’s Common Goal initiative, which seeks to give back to the communities that raised today’s stars by redistributing a small percentage of their wages resources to charitable causes around the world, to the countless anti-racism campaigns around the football world, the game can harness its incredible power to give back.

“Football changes lives,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in May. “It has changed the lives of many people: those who become players, big players, bigger players, megastars, and boys and girls, who, thanks to football can [experience] values, friendships, team spirit and many other values. So, the social impact is there because of the economic impact. And then the emotion, that’s the irrational part of it. It’s something you cannot explain.”

Football Unites the World is a global movement to inspire, unite and develop through football.

The campaign will integrate many key messages related to causes that are enshrined in the daily business of FIFA’s organisation, including calls for health for all, anti-discrimination, climate and sustainability, education and child safeguarding.