Gianluca Vialli on his work with Street Child
Howard Lake | 16 April 2014 | News
Italian footballer Gianluca Vialli is using his prominence to help African children through the charity Street Child.
The former Chelsea manager, who made more than 500 appearances in his professional footballing career, has joined Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding and Apprentice star Nick Hewer to promote Street Child’s Every Child in School campaign. This aims to help bring education to children in West Africa. The campaign’s fundraising is being match funded by the government.
The former Juventus player explained how he got involved.
“My wife is from South Africa so I go to Africa a lot and know about the problems there. But it is also about children. Obviously wanting to help them. When you do something for children you feel fulfilled, basically, you can use many techniques to help, but I use football.”
As ambassador for the Street Child Liberia football team, Vialli has been involved in the Street Children’s World Cup that takes place in Brazil, a tournament played exclusively by “former children of the programme”. The 49-year-old, who scored 259 goals at club level, is a strong believer that the beautiful game can be used for good.
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“You can use football to get children off the streets, give them hope, give them an education and reunite them with their families, in this case in Sierra Leone and Liberia, places that have been destroyed by politics and civil war. So we want to give them hope and give them a better future. I had to do something to help. Hopefully I can contribute.”
Having lived in London for some years, Vialli thinks that helping those less fortunate “is part of the British psyche”.
“I feel that in the UK generally people do a lot for charity, which I admire. They certainly do more than in Italy. It is much more part of your culture here, which is great. It shows generosity and a desire to help the people who are not as lucky. You can do it in different ways: you can donate part of your time or energy or you can donate your money, or you can use your fame and power to send out a message. There are different ways to do this”.
Vialli admits candidly that this practice wasn’t one he was too familiar with upon signing for Chelsea in 1996, and says that his involvement in charitable causes is a fairly recent development in his life.
“I got to this when I was pretty old,” he confesses.
“Before, when I was younger, it was all about playing football and building a family and working and making money. And when you get wiser you realise there is more to life than that and you start concentrating more on doing stuff for other people. And I really admire people that realise that from an early age and can make a difference sooner. It makes you feel better and if you feel better you live a better life. So you do it help people, for a noble cause, but I also think you do it for yourself.”
Vialli has been out of football in an official capacity since being sacked by Watford after just one season in 2002, but would be open to a return “if an amazing opportunity came along”.
As it is, for now he is happy to concentrate on his career as a pundit for Sky Italia, where he still keeps a keen interest in the Premier League.
“I love the Premier League, it is the best competition in the world. It gives you joy, memories, emotions, and there is always so much to look forward to. It is very tight this year, with great football, unpredictable results and such a close race to win the title and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is fantastic.”
And if he had to pick a title winner from the current top four?
“I obviously have a soft spot for Chelsea, but Liverpool, Manchester City and even Arsenal are doing great. I hope that the best team will win.”
[message_box title=”About Street Child” color=”blue”]You can support Street Child in their quest to help thousands of children leave the streets and receive an education. To donate £3, text ‘STREETCHILD £3’ to 70707 or visit www.street-child.co.uk for more details.[/message_box]
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.