Our Purpose
Uniting the global football community in tackling the greatest social challenges of our time
For many, the game forms community. It binds people together and creates a common language they can all speak. And for some, it already serves as a powerful tool for addressing social challenges in their communities - but no systemic link exists between the professional game and the many community based football organisations around the world.
The idea is simple. Common Goal’s members pledge 1% of their earnings to a central fund. And together we allocate this fund to high-impact organisations that harness the power of football to advance the United Nations Global Goals
How Common Goal works
How can football advance the Global Goals?
Here are three of many examples:
Promote peacebuilding in Colombia
Implementing football NGO: Tiempo de Juego
Colombia has been devastated by internal conflict over the past 60 years, with upwards of 50,000 lives lost to date. The nation is now also struggling with an enormous population of internally displaced people—many of whom are either ex-guerilla members or their victims.
Situated on the outskirts of Bogota, Cazucá houses one of Colombia’s biggest settlements of displaced people. It is a notoriously dangerous neighborhood that sees a shocking number kids join gangs and deal drugs from a very young age.
Slowly but surely, Tiempo de Juego is using football to transform Cazucá for good. The organization embraces football as a catalyst for peace, using the game to bring troubled young people together and drive conflict resolution between them.
Through its ‘Football for Peace and Reconciliation’ program, Tiempo de Juego has helped its participants overcome labels of victim or victimizer to jointly see themselves as peace leaders, and to understand how their reconciliation process can positively affect the whole community.
Raise HIV/AIDS awareness in Nigeria
Implementing football NGO: YEDI
Young females in Nigeria, particularly girls between the ages of 13 and 19, face a raft of obstacles to sexual and reproductive health education. This increases their vulnerability to HIV and, by extension, makes them more prone to stigmatization and instances of gender-based violence.
With the right training, these girls can learn to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, and thereby take active control over their reproductive lives and the risks they face. Sadly, however, such training has traditionally been inaccessible to the majority of Nigeria’s female population.
This is why YEDI introduced its Skillz Girl program, a sexual and reproductive health education initiative that creates safe spaces for adolescent girls to have conversations about HIV/Aids and develop life management skills. By combining HIV/Aids education with football training, Skillz Girl allows its participants to learn and converse in an active, enjoyable environment.
The result? Higher participation rates, greater engagement and rising levels of HIV/Aids awareness among adolescent girls in Sub- Saharan Africa.
I learnt that it is important to test for HIV and when positive, it’s not the end of life. I never knew until I joined the Skillz team when they came to my school.
Tackle youth unemployment in the UK
Implementing football NGO: Street League
Youth unemployment poses a serious problem in the UK, with the proportion of 16-24 year olds not in education, employment or training (known as NEETs) hovering above 15%.
Not only are NEETs vulnerable to a wide range of negative conditions (such as social exclusion, crime, and mental health problems), their inability to find work costs the British economy more than £40 billion per year.
Street League is working to bring an end to youth employment in the UK. The charity offers 8-12 week sport and work skill programs to unemployed youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, who face significant obstacles moving into work.
The young participants take part in daily football and fitness activities, and then spend time developing their employability qualifications with one-on-one mentoring support. They’re also provided with work placement opportunities before moving into jobs, colleges, apprenticeships and further training.
Straight after graduating from the Academy programme at Street League I got a job. It's given me stability, and being in a full-time job is something I can rely on.
Steering Board
Moya Dodd
Moya is a Partner in the competition and regulation group at Gilbert+Tobin Lawyers and a member of the Asian Football Confederation's Executive Committee. She was also one of the first few women on FIFA's Executive Committee, from 2013-2016.
A former national team player and vice-captain of Australia, Moya has been and continues to be a leading advocate and champion for women’s rights and gender equality in world football.
In her role as independent Chair of Common Goal's Steering Board, she oversees all of the Steering Board’s activities and formal decision making.
Jürgen Griesbeck
A Schwab Foundation Fellow of the World Economic Forum and Ashoka Fellow, Jürgen has a 25 - year track record of impact and innovation in the field of football for good.
Jürgen serves as a member on the Steering Board in his function as CEO of streetfootballworld and Co-Founder of Common Goal.
Juan Mata
A global ambassador of streetfootballworld, Juan co-founded Common Goal alongside Jürgen Griesbeck and Thomas Preiss in 2017 with the aim to form a lasting connection between football as a business and football as a tool for social change.
Juan was the first player to commit to pledge (a minimum of) 1% of his salary to high impact football for good organisations and serves as a member of Common Goal’s Steering Board.
Luc Tayart
A philanthropic practitioner with more than 30 years of experience, Luc holds numerous additional positions in leading philanthropic and political institutions, including the Network of European Foundations where he serves as Treasurer, the European Venture Philanthropy Association where he serves as a member of the Strategic Committee and the European Policy Centre, where he is a member.
Luc serves as a member on the Steering Board in his function as Managing Director of the King Baudouin Foundation.
Core Team
Thomas Preiss
Thomas is a social change strategist and entrepreneur with a background in international economics and business administration.
In his role as Co-Founder and COO, he translates vision into strategy and oversees the day-to-day operations of Common Goal.
Outside of the office you will find Thomas on the water in the summer and the snow in the winter.
Elvira González-Vallés
Elvira oversees and coordinates the communication of Common Goal’s story in both the online and offline world.
Elvira has an academic background in communications and business management. After working for several years in audio-visual production, she decided to continue her career in the not-for-profit sector, where she has been working for the last 8 years.
Sarah Stanley
As part of Common Goal’s Community team, Sarah heads up data management and governance related to all levels of stakeholders of our growing community.
Sarah holds degrees in Sustainability and Medical Radiation Science and worked in the non-for-profit sector in Australia and the UK prior to joining the Common Goal team in Berlin.
Marcela Munoz
Marcela is our Membership Lead, looking after Common Goal's community of members.
A proud Colombian, Marcela has previously worked in international development and non-profit organisations.
She believes in the power of team play for social change and joined Common Goal with the ambition to create a future in which social purpose becomes part of football’s DNA.
Lilli Barrett-O'Keefe
Lilli Barrett-O'Keefe heads up the USA Office and has been in the soccer for social impact field for over a decade. Her portfolio of work stretches from Kenya to Nepal, Lilli has extensive experience both in the private and public sectors and has been in charge of implementing projects worldwide, taking part in mega-sporting event legacy work, global festivals and North America regional development. Lilli leads the Play Proud Collective Project and is dedicated to ensuring everyone has a safe space to be themselves (on and off the field),
Lilli is based in New York City and lives with her partner and incredibly vocal chihuahua terrier.
Luke Fairbairn
Luke is part of the Common Goal North America team. He is responsible for the design, facilitation, and implementation of Play Proud- Common Goal's LGBTQ+ inclusivity training program. Luke is responsible for the vetting and onboarding of the North America and Caribbean Community Organizations. Luke has been involved in the sport development space across many different roles as a program coordinator, event manager, and coach for a number of Common Goal's community organizations in North America.
Luke is a box-to-box midfielder through and through; he is a team player and enjoys doing the hard work and getting stuck into whatever project he is involved in.
Evan Whitfield
Evan is a Common Goal North America team member who specializes in coalition building, member acquisition, and collective project management. A former professional footballer, Olympian, and current practicing attorney, Evan has experienced football as a social mobility tool and believes in collective action through football to address societal issues.
Evan is based in Chicago with his spouse, two daughters and two geriatric miniature pinschers.
Kaiya McCullough
Kaiya is a part of the Common Goal North America team, and is helping to design, build-out, and execute all aspects of Common Goal’s Anti-Racist Project. She is passionate about community building, racial justice, and social equity, and sees Common Goal’s impact coalitions as a great way to develop the American soccer landscape into a vehicle for social change.
Kaiya is a former professional soccer player, and played the beautiful game for eighteen years before deciding to retire to pursue a full-time social justice career. She is currently an outspoken activist, and is in the process of applying to law school to one day pursue public interest work.