FOOTBALL IS MORE
Football is more than a sport –
Football stands for team spirit and fair play. Football creates joy and excitement.
Football is for everyone.
And above all: football is a school of life.
This basic principle is both the cornerstone of and the driving force behind the non-profit FOOTBALL IS MORE foundation (FIM). It was established in 2011 in Vaduz in the Principality of Liechtenstein under the patronage of HSH Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein.
The Foundation
The purpose of our foundation…
…is to support and nurture disadvantaged people through the power of football – and therefore to empower them in the long term. We pay particular attention to children and young people who are socially disadvantaged, have mental and/or physical disabilities or live in crisis areas and developing countries.
A central role in achieving our goals…
…is played by the FIM-Family – a network composed of football clubs, non-profit organisations and benefactors as well as representatives from business, science and politics. Together with them, we organise and carry out national and international funding projects. The broad scope of the FIM-Family enables our foundation to make the best possible use of the positive qualities promoted by football.
Our mission
Through the power of football, we make the inclusion and participation of disadvantaged people in society possible and make education and health accessible to them.
We focus our global activities on
children and young people.
Our vision
Our vision is an inclusive world that is worth living in and in which everyone can live a self-determined life in dignity.
Through our work we want to help build a society in which everyone is given the opportunity to make full use of their resources, to develop their individual talents and to shape their lives according to their own aspirations and wishes.
Our values
Our guiding values are diversity, equal opportunities and inclusion.
We value and respect people from all backgrounds and promote a culture of diversity, equal opportunities and inclusion. This position applies to all nationalities, social strata, religious convictions, ways of thinking, genders, cultural identities, ages and abilities.
Beneficiaries
As a charitable foundation, we offer our services to people at home and abroad who are prevented by a disability and/or their background from fully participating in society.
We focus our global activities on children and young people with physical and/or mental disabilities, as well as their families. In crisis and developing countries, we focus on disadvantaged children and young people, as well as their families.
Our goals
Our foundation aligns its goals with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
From them, we derive further goals for our projects and thus lay a foundation on which children and young people can build their futures. The following Sustainable Developments Goals of the United Nations play a crucial and pioneering role in our work:
“A modern society stands for equal opportunities, respect and inclusion, there must be no room for exclusion. In this context, sport offers an ideal platform, which FIM, as an established organisation in the field of sports philanthropy, uses to cross boundaries. This is what we are committed to.”
H.S.H. Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein, Patron of the FOOTBALL IS MORE foundation
The FIM team
Staff member
Hanspeter
Rothmund
Managing Director
“I was able to experience many things through football, both positive and negative. In any case, the sport has the power to combat dark instincts and forces. My mission at FOOTBALL IS MORE is to bring about greater humanity through education.”
Andy Rose
Project Manager
"I am delighted to be part of the Football Is More Foundation Family. My dream and passion is that we have an equitable world where everybody is given the opportunity to achieve their goals and chase their dreams in an environment that is able to adapt to everyone's individual needs, where difference is celebrated and not persecuted. Through the power of football and the FIM Family Network we aim to show how easy this could be if we only work together."
Noëlle
Carrabs
Assistant to the Managing Director
“Everyone should be given the right to shape their lives according to their wishes. I am certain that our commitment at FOOTBALL IS MORE can help that to happen.”
Cengiz Bicer
Assistent of the Managing Director & Content-Manager
"Through my 15-year career as a professional footballer and national goalkeeper of Liechtenstein, I was able to gain a lot of experience on the international football stage. The most important experience I have made is that success in team sports can only succeed through integration and inclusion. Football is an ideal sport discipline for everyone, regardless of their social background, to live integration and inclusion."
Valérie
Mazza-Heller
Project & Relationship Manager
“I am convinced that the language of football is an ideal means for transmitting knowledge and values to young people in a playful way – and thus for achieving social change. That is what I’m committed to.”
The foundation’s Board of Trustees
Alois
Kessler
Chairman of the Board of Trustees, lawyer
“Through the global sport of football, we are able to reach out to physically, mentally and socially disadvantaged young people everywhere – and through our foundation, using the power of football, we try to integrate them into society.”
Gerda
Schwindt
Member of the Board of Trustees, HR Management Consultant
“It is of vital importance to me that disadvantaged people are given opportunities for personal development, irrespective of their origin and physical and/or mental capacities, and also regardless of their personal beliefs and orientations.”
Urs Markus Kranz
Proprietor and Managing Director
Graduate businessman and
graduate business economist from
a higher college for business and
administration
Trustee
"People are different but equal in dignity and rights. If we are serious about ensuring that people with disabilities or social disadvantages have the same rights as people without disabilities, then we must be prepared to develop our society to this point. This will not be possible overnight, not even in sport. Sport is not a universal remedy, but it offers the possibility to break down barriers."
Hanspeter Rothmund
Founder, Member of the Board of Trustees and Managing Director
“I was able to experience many things through football, both positive and negative. In any case, sport has the power to combat dark instincts and forces. My mission at FOOTBALL IS MORE is to bring about greater humanity though education.”
Philippe Zimmermann
Member of the Board of Trustees, Attorney-at-law
"Not every child is lucky enough to grow up in a privileged region under good physical and psychological conditions. With my commitment for the foundation, I want to contribute to supporting and promoting disadvantaged children and young people through the unifying power of football, so that the world of tomorrow will be more fair than today's."
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Buschmann
Chairman of FIM e.V. Germany, Lecturer
“In order to use the fascination and power of football, which affects all areas of society all over the world, to help disadvantaged children and young people, I would like to bring my experience, knowledge and contacts to the foundation!”
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Armin
Ospelt
Member of the Board of Trustees, Proprietor and Managing Director
Consultant in Business and Marketing Strategy
«We know that normally we are all different. And yet there are millions of young people who are disadvantaged, wether in poverty and/or with a disability, living on the margins of society. With my contribution to the FOOTBALL IS MORE Family, it is a great concern of mine to use the integrativ power of football to bring disadvantaged children and young people closer to society to promote fun and togetherness.»
Special Advisor
Dr. Rudolf Batliner
Former Manager of LED, Liechtensteinischer Entwicklungsdienst, former coordinator of studies at NADEL – Center for Development and Cooperation – ETH Zurich
Prof. Dr. Mathias Bellinghausen
Professor and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Sports Management at the University of Applied Management, Chairman of the Board, GPeV – Gesellschaft für Prävention gem. e.V.
Honey
Thaljieh
Co-founder of women's football in Palestine, current Corporate Communications Manager at FIFA
Jim
Cassell
Former Director. of the Manchester City F.C. Football Academy
H.E. Mohamed Fadel Al Hameli
President of UAE Paralympics
Reiner
Calmund
Football official, former manager, presentor and book author
Nico
Tschui
Promotion & Development of Youth Football in the Middle East
Our Ambassadors
Werner Grabherr
Coach, Austria
Like many football coaches, Werner Grabherr’s career began on the pitch: in 2004 he made his professional debut for SCR Altach and eight years later, when he was at FC Egg, he retired as a player. Werner Grabherr then returned to his roots to become the trainer of SCR Altach, a position that he held until 2019.
Diego
Benaglio
Goalkeeper, AS Monaco
Diego Benaglio is still the “goalkeeping darling” of many Swiss people because although he has not kept goal for Switzerland since 2014, his performances in international tournaments have won him countless fans. Benaglio currently plays for AS Monaco. Before that, he was Wolfsburg’s goalkeeper for about ten years, during which he won both the German championship and the cup.
Daniel
Nodari
Footballplayer & Youth Coach
Daniel Nodari is a junior football coach since many years, he enjoys it very much and football is his life, no matter if on the pitch or from the sidelines.
He also plays football himself. Working with people with disabilities is a lot of fun and a matter close to his heart.
"I am proud to be part of the FIM team.
Everyone should have the chance to play football, no matter how disadvantaged they are. Football unites people. "
Simone
Rapp
Fussballspieler
Simone Rapp was born and raised in Ticino.
Simone is currently playing for FC Vaduz in the Challenge League in the 2021/22 season.
"Football is a sport for everyone and I believe that FIM's work conveys this valuable message in the best possible way."
Alexander
Fangmann
Captain of the German National Blind Football Team; Sports Inclusion Manager at the Sports Federation Württemberg
Alexander Fangmann advocates for greater awareness of the rather unknown facets of football. Through educating and training coaches and club staff, he wants to achieve that people with disabilities have access to football at all levels.
Raimondo
Ponte
Coach, Switzerland
Raimondo Ponte has been head coach of numerous Swiss Super League clubs. Unforgotten are the international successes that he was able to achieve in the late 1990s as the trainer of FC Zurich. However, Ponte can also look back on his considerable success as a player: in 1978, he reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup with Grasshoppers Zurich, a success in which he, as one of the key players, played a major role.
Demba
Ba
Ex-Footballer
Demba Ba’s success has not been without challenge. Challenge from the streets to the pitch. Whether it has been injury or a team’s change of plans, Ba has persevered through each obstacle. Playing for Chelsea FC back in 2013, made him the first ever Senegalese player to join the club. His success can be attributed solely to his deep devotion to the game itself, since day one. Ba has also played for the Senegal national team since the beginning of his professional football career.