FIFA, the international governing body of football, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have partnered to combat the ravaging Coronavirus (COVID-19) by launching a new awareness campaign led by world-renowned footballers.
WHO, in a statement on Monday, said that the footballers would be calling on all people around the world to follow five key steps to stop the spread of the disease.
The “Pass the message to kick out Coronavirus” campaign promotes five key steps for people to follow to protect their health in line with WHO guidance.
It also focussed on handwashing, coughing etiquette, not touching the face, physical distance and staying home, if feeling unwell.
Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, spoke at the virtual launch of the campaign at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ghebreyesus said that FIFA and its President Gianni Infantino, have been actively involved in passing the message against the pandemic since the very beginning.
“Be it through campaigns or funding, FIFA has stood up to the Coronavirus, and I am delighted that the world football is supporting WHO to kick out Coronavirus.
“I have no doubt with this type of support that together we will win,” Ghebreyesus said.
The FIFA president said in the statement that teamwork was needed to combat the virus.
“FIFA has teamed up with WHO because health comes first.
“I call upon the football community worldwide to join us in supporting this campaign to pass the message, even further.
“Some of the greatest players to have played the beautiful game have put their names to the campaign and are united in their desire to pass the message to kick out COVID-19,” Infantino said.
The statement said that 28 players were involved in the video campaign, which is being published in 13 languages.
Some of the players are Sami Al Jaber; Alisson Becker; Emre Belözoğlu; Jared Borgetti; Gianluigi Buffon, Iker Casillas, Sunil Chhetri, Youri Djorkaeff, Han Duan, Samuel Eto’o, Lionel Messi (ARG), Michael Owen (ENG) and Yaya Touré.
It said that a video campaign, which would be published on player and FIFA digital channels, was also being provided as individual localised files to the 211 FIFA member associations and media agencies.
The statement said the video campaign would go together with a graphics toolkit for implementation on social media to further pass the message. (NAN)