The Qatar 2022 World Cup opens this Sunday to last until December 18. On this occasion, the International Football Federation (FIFA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a campaign to encourage young people to be active.
This is the #BringTheMoves challenge, which invites FIFA World Cup players to complete the challenges given to them on social media by fans around the world when celebrating a goal. The aim is to encourage young people to be active (#BeActive).
“We know the negative impact physical inactivity can have on children’s health, and football can use the sounding board of this FIFA World Cup to spread this message in an uplifting and engaging way.“, underlined in this regard the boss of FIFA, Gianni Infantino.
According to him, “This challenge not only connects kids with their heroes, but uses the most digital World Cup in history to drive home the message that we all need to be active. It also makes parents aware that children need 60 minutes of physical exercise a day. Right now, 80% of teenagers around the world are doing less.”
As the 2022 FIFA World Cup approaches and during the event, children around the world will be able to throw all kinds of challenges at the players of the participating teams. To celebrate the goals scored, all they have to do is post a video on their social media profiles using the hashtag #BringTheMoves.
Thus, for the former Ivorian international and WHO Goodwill Ambassador, Didier Drogba, “Exercising has many benefits for everyone, especially children as they grow and develop physically, mentally and socially. Exercising physically is good for your body and your mind – for your mental and physical health.”
For his part, Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker, also a WHO Goodwill Ambassador, and who is preparing to play in the World Cup, highlighted the importance of being in optimal physical shape, and wants to use the opportunity presented by the FIFA World Cup to encourage young people to take the #BringTheMoves challenge and exercise more.
“I support this campaign because I sincerely believe that children should move more”he said, noting: “As they grow up, they have to exert themselves physically for the sake of their future. I see that we footballers can also be a source of inspiration for them. If we can have fun with them and encourage them to move their bodies a bit, how can we not be satisfied? “.
A digital app
The campaign is also encouraging children to download GenMove, a digital app that uses artificial intelligence to encourage children to exercise every day throughout the World Cup.
Season 1 of GenMove will be launched on November 19 by Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health of Qatar, and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, at the event “From words to action: the challenge of health for all which will be held in Qatar.
The boss of the WHO has, in this sense, indicated that “Football, music and good humor are the perfect ingredients to want to exercise and thus be healthy“, noting that “WHO’s partnership with FIFA and Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health on the Bring The Moves challenge aims to connect World Cup stars with young people around the world, to inspire people everywhere to exercise more for better health”.