Are team sports better suited to promoting social behaviour?
I think team sports are better suited because players always have to cooperate to achieve their objective. And that is not all: the number of people that identify with team sports is also greater. There are risks too, of course, like the risk of fans rioting. But team sports per se teach people the need for tolerance and observance of rules. From a development angle, what criteria need to be met to harness football effectively? We are building on the experiences of our partner streetfootballworld , which networks football projects with a social dimension worldwide. Basically, though, the criteria that apply are the same as for all projects. We need development-oriented actors. Football schools in Africa and Latin America earn a great deal of money nowadays by talent-spotting youngsters and grooming them for the European market. But that has nothing to do with development. Our aim is to serve as many of the youngsters involved as possible. They need to see themselves in context: better
