FIFA has announced that it will invest more than $70 million in Gaza to help rebuild the war-torn region.
The announcement came during the first meeting of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Washington, D.C., which FIFA president Gianni Infantino attended.
The project is a joint venture between FIFA and the Board of Peace that will see a number of soccer-related investments made across Gaza, which has been decimated amid a war between Israel and Hamas.
FIFA’s proposed investment includes the following:
- 50 mini pitches – $2.5 million
- Five full-sized pitches – $5 million
- FIFA academy – $15 million
- National stadium with 20,000-25,000 seats – $50 million
In an AI-generated video shown at the Board of Peace meeting, various soccer pitches and facilities rise from the rubble of Gaza.
FIFA and the Board of Peace will come together to “turn football into a bridge toward peace, dignity and hope,” the video’s narrator said, adding that “a complete football ecosystem will be created” in Gaza.
FIFA said it would also help create leagues at the youth, amateur and regional levels.
‘We all have to contribute for this, and that’s why FIFA wants to contribute,’ Infantino said. ‘Because we don’t have to just rebuild houses or schools or hospital or roads. We also have to rebuild and build people, emotion, hope and trust. And this is what football, my sport, is about.’
Trump added that FIFA would be ‘getting the greatest stars in the world to go’ to Gaza to help support the project.
The Board of Peace was established to bring an end to the war in Gaza, as international delegates discuss the next steps in a fragile ceasefire that was approved in October.