Canada womens football team become first ever Common Goal international XI after joining Juan Mata’s charitable initiative
- Canada womens football side have joined charity initiative Common Goal
- The 15 players and a member of coaching staff take the one per cent pledge
- The movement, which started with Juan Mata, now has close to 100 players
Canada women’s football team are the latest footballers to have joined Common Goal and become the first ever international XI in the charity initiative.
Common Goal is a global movement in which the football community pledges a minimum of one per cent of their earnings to football for good organisations that use the game to advance the Global Goals.
Over the past 15 years, the organisation has assembled a global network of more than 120 football-based organisations that use football as a tool to tackle social issues ranging from gender equality in India to peace-building in Colombia to refugee integration in Germany.
Canada womens football team have joined charity initiative Common Goal
The likes of Juan Mata, Mats Hummels and Giorgio Chiellini are supporters of the cause from the men’s game and now 15 players and one member of coaching staff from the Canadian womens football team have joined the movement.
Goalkeeper Erin McLeod, who was the first of her team-mates to join Common Goal, convinced others to do likewise.
McLeod told The Players’ Tribune: ‘When I heard about Common Goal — the social impact movement in global football where members pledge one per cent of their wages to football charities — I just thought, “Of course. Why wouldn’t I want to be a part of this?”
‘Now I am extremely proud that 15 of the girls on the team have signed up and at the World Cup this summer, Canada will have the first Common Goal XI.
Fifteen players and one member of the coaching staff joined Juan Mata’s charitable campaign
The Manchester United midfielder helped start the movement just under two years ago
‘I won’t be there because I’m injured – it crushes my heart – but I’m so proud of the players who will be there. This is what our Canadian legacy is all about.’
Over the course of its first 20 months, Common Goal has built a squad of almost 100 professional players and coaches – plus other notable names such as Danish club FC Nordsjaelland, the movement’s first Mentor, Eric Cantona, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, Banco Santander and EA Sports.
Following last week’s announcement of three Scotland internationals joining the movement, more updates are expected soon from Common Goal relating to the FIFA Women’s World Cup.