A Movement Supported Across World Football

From its early development, Football World Heritage attracted support from leading figures across international football, institutions and public life.

At FIFA level, the initiative has engaged with senior figures across world football, reinforcing its ambition to bring the global football community together around the recognition of football’s cultural heritage and universal values.

Arsène Wenger publicly supported the vision of football as world heritage, describing the game as an extraordinary example of tolerance and understanding between peoples. The movement also received support from figures including Georges Weah, Antoine Griezmann and Didier Deschamps, while Florentino Pérez, President of Real Madrid, expressed his support for the initiative. Sheffield FC - the world’s first football club - also formally expressed its willingness to join the project and contribute its heritage to the international effort.

In 2018, Forbes placed Football World Heritage with the « TOP 100 Football World Leaders » at the center of a special Football World Leaders edition, presenting the initiative alongside Arsène Wenger, Antoine Griezmann and Georges Weah and helping bring the campaign to an international football audience.

What began as an idea was becoming a coalition: cultural institutions, football leaders, clubs, players and public figures connected by one ambition - to recognize and transmit football’s universal cultural legacy.