Champions League rivals team up for community benefit

When Benfica meet Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, both sides will be going all out to win, but behind the scenes the two clubs have been working together to benefit their local communities.

Through their respective charitable foundations, both clubs use the power of sport and football social development programmes to help local people from different backgrounds. Ahead of this week's Champions League match, the Benfica Foundation and Feyenoord Foundation joined forces to run several sessions for the local Lisbon community, including schoolchildren, refugees, disabled players and senior players.

Local children received special gifts from the Feyenoord coaches© Nádia Samgy/SLB

The joint sessions, which engaged around 200 local participants, were the product of some excellent teamwork between the two clubs and their foundations, creating an unforgettable experience for everybody involved.

"It's not common to have coaches from Feyenoord, so it's an amazing day for the [participants] with the experiences they have had," said Nuno Costa, head of planning and partnerships at the Benfica Foundation.

"It's taking advantage of the power of football to inspire and bring social cohesion to our communities. Sometimes, [people] lack self-confidence and self-esteem, so, when they are being approached by well-known clubs like Feyenoord, it's another way for them to develop themselves because they feel that they mean something. European football is a network that gets clubs together regarding different kinds of issues that connect us all as citizens of the world."

Coaches put Lisbon children through their paces© Nádia Samgy/SLB

The Benfica-Feyenoord partnership also created the perfect opportunity for foundation staff and community coaches to learn from their counterparts.

"It's a great experience for the children – that's the main purpose why we do this – but it's also a great experience for the coaches," explained Ton Strooband, manager of social impact and development at the Feyenoord Foundation. "This year, we were very happy when we met Benfica because we have already had a good relationship for many years.

"This initiative means that the participants can meet people from another culture, from another country and, actually, it's the same for our coaches, for our people; they meet children from another culture, they see what what's going on here, they meet the coaches from Benfica, they exchange experiences, so our coaches come back to our country with new ideas and new experiences, which we can use in our work in Rotterdam."