Common Goal teams up with #TOGETHERBAND

To inspire the football community to contribute to the Global Goals 

To mark its 3rd anniversary, Common Goal has united with #TOGETHERBAND with the aim to build a more engaged and active global community in pursuit of achieving the most ambitious project of our humanity – the UN Global Goals.

Back in 2015, the United Nations General Assembly designed the 17 Global Goals as a ‘blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all’ with the intention of being achieved by the year 2030.

With the purpose of both Common Goal and #TOGETHERBAND being to turn blueprint into reality, in recognition of their own contribution towards achieving the goals members of football’s growing social impact movement will each receive their own #TOGETHERBAND.

The collaboration will help inform and inspire people across the world towards contributing to the Global Goals by raising awareness and inspiring football fans to be part of the movement by purchasing a #TOGETHERBAND themselves.

The idea behind #TOGETHERBAND is simple: each coloured band represents one of the 17 Global Goals. By purchasing and wearing a #TOGETHERBAND, the public can bring itself closer to the issue they wish to champion as both a reminder and a call to action.

Last year #TOGETHERBAND engaged with 1.4 billion people within its campaign to raise awareness and support initiatives that aim to end world hunger, protect our seas, and fight climate change.

“Sparking a conversation is very often how it all begins in terms of raising awareness and awareness leads to action,” said Cameron Saul, #TOGETHERBAND co-founder.

“For many people, critical issues that the Global Goals seek to address such as modern day slavery or lack of access to clean water may seem very distant and ‘unrelatable’ but these are very real daily crises for people around the world.

“By inviting people to share why the Goals matter to them personally we use storytelling to make them relatable.

“We love the approach that Common Goal is taking and know that we can move further and faster if we come together. We share its [Common Goal’s] values and are united in our approach of working closely with figureheads from the community to drive awareness and change.

“The work that Common Goal is doing with many leading football players to support life-changing projects that are empowering others shows how it’s possible for sport to drive change.”

From the sale of each band, 100% of the proceeds goes towards raising awareness and supporting initiatives that are driving progress towards them – such as the Common Goal movement.

Three years ago, Juan Mata became the first football player to take the 1% pledge and launch a collective effort within the football industry to create a fairer society and more sustainable planet for all.

Since then, more than 150 players, managers, and clubs have pledged 1% of their salaries to help achieve the Global Goals and make a valuable contribution to the lives of young people across the world – proving not only is football a team game but so too is social change.

“When we launched Common Goal, we did so because we believe in the power of football and the power of team play,” said Jürgen Griesbeck, Common Goal co-founder.

“Three years later there are more than 150 members from different clubs, countries, backgrounds, genders, religions, race – you name it – working together to make a valuable contribution towards the lives of young people across the world.

“In terms of Common Goal’s own journey, all roads lead to 2030. Our vision and mission is designed to help football contribute in making the ‘blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all’ become a reality.”

“Though this 3rd anniversary takes place in a hugely challenging context, if the pandemic and lockdown measures have taught us anything, it’s the unpredictable nature of this world and the importance of collective effort.”

To continue driving awareness and positive social change for years to come, each Common Goal member will receive both a personal #TOGETHERBAND and have an opportunity to pass a second one onto someone to recognise or inspire their own contribution; be it a fellow player, close friend or family member, young participant, or organisation.

Members will also be encouraged to share with their followers through social media with a link where fans can purchase their own #TOGETHERBAND in support of Common Goal.

For all bands purchased following this collaboration, 50% of the funds will be donated to the Common Goal COVID-19 Response Fund, launched in April to raise financial support for struggling communities all over the world.

The other 50% will also help the fight against COVID-19, supporting the United Nations’ Solidarity Fund for the WHO and Médicins Sans Frontiéres.

The bands themselves are created using upcycled plastic collected by hand from beaches in Costa Rica. The clasp is made from recycled illegal firearm metal retrieved from El Salvador and the bands are put together by women in Nepal who have been rescued from human trafficking.

If you wish, you can play your part by purchasing a band here.