As well as pledging 1% to the Common Goal movement, Serge Gnabry, an adidas athlete, wanted to experience first-hand how football is changing lives.
In 2019 he travelled to his father’s homeland of Ivory Coast to visit TackleAfrica and learn about their education-through-football programme.
The trip is one that further solidified Serge’s desire to use his platform to help change lives.
“If you take the opportunity to go on a trip like this, you will want to do more afterwards,” said Serge.
“I’m 100% sure, 1000% sure that, once you have experienced it locally, no matter whether in Africa, Asia, or somewhere else, you think differently than when you hear from far away at home that there are problems or that help is needed.”
The Bayern Munich player and German international joined the movement in 2017 and has since enjoyed plenty of success on the pitch – winning the Bundesliga and German Cup in 2018/19.
Serge is aware that his career will end while he is still relatively young and hopes that his 1% pledge can make a difference while he is still playing and also hopes to inspire other professionals to become more socially aware of the world around them..