Grassroots soccer projects use the Power of Soccer to Educate.

Grassroot Soccer gives vital Life Skills and HIV prevention education to future South African soccer stars.

Grassroot Soccer is an international NGO that uses the power of football to educate young people about HIV/AIDS.

Founded by former professional soccer players in 2003, the soccer project trains African soccer stars, coaches, teachers, and peer educators to deliver an interactive, games-based HIV/AIDS prevention and Life Skills curriculum to youth.

In 2006 Grassroot Soccer Projects provided potentially life-saving HIV/AIDS prevention education to more than 20,000 young soccer minded people throughout Southern Africa.

So far these projects have reached over 1.5 million young Africans. In 2004 an independent evaluation of the program proved that it effectively increases students' knowledge changed attitudes, and enhanced perceived social support surrounding HIV/AIDS prevention.

Grassroot Soccer ushered in 2007 by launching several community-based football for development programs across South Africa.

New sites include Port Elizabeth (Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality), Cape Town, and the Gauteng Province, with plans to expand into Bloemfontein (Mangaung, the Northern Cape and Limpopo Provinces.

Grassroot Soccer aim to provide comprehensive, activity-based HIV/AIDS and life skills education to more than 5,000 young South Africans in 2007.

Grassroot Soccer projects celebrated the launch of Grassroot Soccer programs in Cape Town by hosting a six-a-side Youth Soccer Tournament at Paternoster beach and in the Langa Township.

The first Cape Town Soccer Project sites in operation are at Masiphumelele Primary, Khayelitsha Makhaza (39 Section) and Impenulo Primary, Khayelitsha Makhaza (42 Section). They will also be starting a program at Nkazimlo Primary, Khayelitsha Makhaza (31 section) shortly.

Grassroot participants were chosen to serve as players escorts before the 90 minutes for Mandela match which served as a birthday tribute for Nelson Mandela.

The FIFA World Cup 2010 offers a unique opportunity for sport-for-development organizations in Cape Town’s townships like Grassroot Soccer and the African Brothers Soccer Academy to highlight the power of soccer as an educational tool and raise the world's awareness of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.

As part of this soccer development movement, Grassroot Soccer and partners will scale-up their efforts over the next three years. For Grassroot Soccer, this means educating millions of African children about HIV/AIDS by 2010 and continuing to set up sustainable community-based programs.

Molo Says: The 2010 World Cup will only be a success if it involves all South Africans, programs like Grassroot Soccer will go a long way to making that happen.

Read more about other exciting community and township based initiatives in our Heart Beat section.

Find out where you coach and play soccer with kids in the townships, township tours and other things to do in the townships such as spending a night in a township B&B.

For updates and details on the World Cup host cities, stadiums and airports download our Soccer South Africa Google Map. Once downloaded, it will update with new Tourism and Soccer 2010 locations automatically. It will also include other soccer related sites, like the Grassroots Soccer and African Brothers site, and 2010 tourist locations.

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