The Danone Nations Cup is 11 years old! Eleven years of dreams, contacts and sports shared by more than 18 million children. From September 30th through October 3rd, 2010, after six months of national qualifying games in 40 countries, the Danone Nations Cup World Final will fire up South Africa with real human adventure. Zinedine Zidane, faithful ambassador, will be present to launch the final of the world's largest football competition for children, for the first time away from France. Beyond the boundaries of sport, this event, now destined to travel all around the globe, will also locally commit to children and health by helping sustainable initiatives.
This year, the World Final will be held outside France for the first time, in South Africa. A few weeks after their professional elders, the children of the Danone Nations Cup will compete in the world phases of the competition in Johannesburg, from September 30th through October 3rd, 2010.
This will be a fabulous adventure for the young representatives of the 40 participating countries. Beyond the sport, this event is a major human adventure. Driven by Danone's desire to act sustainably on behalf of children's well-being and health, the Danone Nations Cup will work with local associations and contribute to targeted programmes to fight malnutrition or obesity in each host country of future finals. Football, as a universal sport, is an excellent vector for these initiatives and for Danone's values. Sporting values like fair play, the pleasure of the game, team spirit, sharing, and above all human values like openness, and respect.
Joining the finalists of the 2010 competition will be all the teams already qualified for the World Finals of the 2009 Danone Nations Cup. This final had chosen to be postponed because of the H1N1 flu pandemic.
Thus, more than 1,120 children will come together in South Africa to take part in a record-breaking competition.
For the official kick-off of the 2010 Danone Nations Cup World Final, the children and Zinedine Zidane, the competition's ambassador, invite everyone to participate in the world's longest pass.
For more information, go to //blog.danonenationscup.com.