Taking place between 29th June to July 2nd, the first component of Festival 19 brings together 54 female community young leaders from across the world between the ages of 18-25. Selected upon their commitment to promoting gender equality in their individual communities, young leaders will be facilitated to further develop the skills and tools needed to promote actions on women’s rights and female empowerment. The programme will include a number of train of trainer and leadership workshops, followed by an introduction to the football3 methodology.

Through multiple Festival Games, 48 festival delegations with over 300 participants, will bond while learning how to overcome challenges through the medium of play. They will then take part in football for good workshops and football3 training sessions led by young leaders, culminating with the street football tournament using the football3 methodology. They too will have the chance to attend a world cup semi-final match and sightseeing tour, as well as an exchange program visiting local communities.

The climax of the festival will be the street football tournament hosting the football3 methodology. Three halves, no refs: football3 is a different way to play. With a focus on fair play, equality and teamwork, it empowers young people with the skills they need to flourish off the pitch. Now trained as accredited mediators, young leaders will lead the matches, split into a pre-match discussion, football game, and post-match discussion. The tournament will feature internally mixed teams across both genders. Each team is made of eight players, enabling players to jointly determine the values and rules that will be used during the game and to demonstrate their commitment to fair play and cooperation on and off the pitch.

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The Equality Summit will unite football for good organisations and activists from across the world to explore bottom-up approaches that use football as a tool to promote gender equality and empower young girls on and off the pitch. Workshops and networking sessions will be concluded by a panel discussion featuring leading figures in the quest for a more equal game and a fairer world.