Current Projects

Connecticut-Based Projects

Kick For Nick 

FFI recently joined with Kick for Nick, the Wilton, CT charity founded in memory of PFC Nick Madaras, who lost his life while serving in Iraq in 2006. Before his death, Nick had been an avid player, coach and referee who had been struck by how talented young Iraqi children were at soccer even though they often played with objects as humble as tin cans. As a result, he’d hoped to distribute real soccer balls to kids in his area. Following his death, local Wilton residents, along with Ni ck’s family, formed Kick for Nick and began collecting balls in earnest. To date they’ve distributed over 55,000 soccer balls to children in disadvantaged communities across the globe. 

Ucal McKenzie Breakaway Foundation, Hartford Summer Soccer and Health Camp 2025

FFI provides ongoing support to the UMBF summer soccer camp in Hartford, CT. The camp, for boys and girls ages eight to eighteen, is offered at little or no cost. In keeping with the Foundation’s slogan “For soccer, for life”  the week-long camp provides mentorship, player development and health training. Not only do campers become more confident players, they also learn hands-only CPR and AED awareness training, sports recovery, injury prevention, nutrition and more. 

Ucal Mckenzie Breakaway Foundation was founded following the passing of Ucal McKenzie, who died suddenly on the soccer pitch. Ucal has been described as…”an incredibly talented high school counselor, varsity soccer coach and city youth mentor who connected with each and everyone of his students and players.”

The Foundation created in his name seeks to continue his work by teaching healthy life-styles to city youth through soccer.  In addition to camps in Hartford and Boston, this year the Foundation is set to conduct a camp in New York.  

Williams Soccer Academy - Windsor, CT (2023)

The Williams Soccer Academy was established in 2018 in Windsor, Connecticut. The Academy puts on inexpensive high-quality soccer camps organized and led by Kevin R. Williams in Windsor, Connecticut. The camps began in the summer of 2015 and have been running on a yearly basis since.

Futbol Friends is committed to sending financial support to Williams Academy each year to ensure the low-cost model can be sustained. In the past, our contributions have been used to purchase jerseys, balls, and other necessary equipment for the camp participants. See some of the children sporting their jerseys above!

Dig Usa bridgeport girls - bridgeport, CT (2024)

Starting in the spring of 2021, Futbol Friends began supporting the DIG USA Bridgeport Girls Soccer program. This comprehensive soccer experience now includes eighty inner-city players who, at no cost to them, practice two to three times per week under the guidance of professional coaches. The coaches, who also serve as mentors and role models, have seen progress on and off the field as the girls compete against more experienced, better funded teams on weekends in the Bridgeport area and nearby suburbs. 

FFI’s grants have helped ensure that everything is provided at no cost to the girls; including balls, cleats, jerseys, backpacks and jackets.

Note: At the end of May, the program will lose American Rescue Plan Act funding which has supported the teams for the past three years. In order to continue, DIG created a GoFundMe page. The girls’ season will continue through much of June and DIG would like to keep training going through the summer if possible. If you’re able to donate, you can do so here.

International Projects

Fields of Hope, Uganda 2025

“Fields of Hope” is a football (soccer)-based program for youth that promotes healing from trauma, community development and leadership training. It is the brain-child of Mansuk Milton, a South Sudanese refugee living in Uganda. The program is football-based because, as Mansuk has stated, “Football, as a universal language, unites, heals, and inspires.” 

Mansuk developed “Fields of Hope" to address the needs of some of the nearly eighteen thousand young South Sudanese refugees in camps in the Papagirinya region of Uganda. According to Mansuk “These youth, representing the future of South Sudan, face significant challenges arising from the trauma of war and the harsh realities of refugee life. Many are victims of early marriages, teenage pregnancies, drug abuse, and tribal conflicts. These issues cause emotional, social, and psychological harm, threatening their individual development and the future of South Sudan.”

In recognition of soccer’s power to bring people together, “Fields of Hope" will work to  form teams for male and female players in each of the region’s eighteen camps. 

Eventually hundreds of young men and women will participate in leadership training, mentorship and ongoing soccer events. If successful, the program will reduce conflict among tribal groups, promote healing from trauma and build resilient communities. In addition it will create a corps of leaders to help build the world’s newest country: South Sudan.  

In 2024 and 2025 FFI provided $2,100 in two grants that have been used to form several youth teams. 

Mansuk recently wrote “I'm writing with heartfelt thanks for your generous gift of $1,000 and to share some exciting news that your support made possible. We’ve officially launched the Peace Family Football Club, comprising 30+ refugee youth from the Dinka and Nuer tribes in the Pagirinya Refugee Settlement.

This is more than a football team—it's a bridge between tribes, a platform for healing, and a path toward unity for the next generation.”

Likoni Community Team - Likoni, Kenya (2024)

The Likoni Community Team is our most recent project facilitated by our friends at American Friends of Kenya. Futbol Friends’ support was crucial to helping this small community team re-commence play during the midst of the global pandemic. See young players sending you their thanks above!

Wire Soccer Academy, 2024 - Oyugis, Kenya

This group of 75 girls and boys love soccer and are managed by Coach Simon Okello. Wire's mission is to help break the cycle of poverty in Kenya by building stronger children, and stronger communities. They opened in the town of Oyugis and plan to expand to surrounding areas. As Okello says, "We believe the Scriptures are clear concerning helping those in need. We are commanded to do good to all people, to be generous and willing to share our resources with compassion and generosity. This is true as an organization as well as for each of us individually. As a basic aspect of the practice of our faith, we will share our material goods with those in need and will minister to them to the best of our abilities."

RAWO Football Academy, Malawi 2025

The Football Academy serves a remote community at Mtengowanthenga, Malawi. In the region there is a lack decent health care and few educational and employment opportunities,  

About sixty boys and girls, between the ages of  eight and eighteen participate in what is one of the very few organized sport opportunities in the area. According to the program’s director, Rabson Woodwell, “Many of the children stay at home without hope but when they come to play football they temporarily forget their families’ challenges and build some self-esteem.”  The importance of soccer in Rabson’s district goes well beyond its recreational benefits. It brings children and their families together while enhancing community cooperation and engagement.

Rabson is a dynamic young man who earned his MBA after completing his bachelor's degree in marketing.

Ubunifu Learning Hub, Kenya 2024

FFI has made a grant of $2,000 to Ubunifu Learning Hub (ULH) in Barut, a poor area of Kenya's third largest city. With our support, the center will resurrect a very successful youth soccer program that was designed to reduce conflict while building friendships among adversarial tribal groups. 

In addition to this project, ULH sponsors women's cooperatives, youth training programs and activities, and a small community library. In partnership with American Friends of Kenya, a past FFI grant recipient, ULH also conducts outreach initiatives in several primary and secondary schools as well as a regional center for the care of severely disabled children.

The program, originally initiated by the Rotary Club of Nakuru, had been suspended due to pandemic-related disruptions and diminished funding. With our grant, four teams comprising eighty boys and girls will be equipped and supported to play under the guidance of volunteer coaches. 

The ultimate objective of ULH is building bridges of friendship and tolerance across tribal groups. Toward that end, it is committed to developing local sources of funding and community support for an ongoing multi-team league capable of engaging hundreds of young people. 

“I want to say thank you to Futbol Friends International on behalf of the Barut community. We look forward to getting started and sharing the success stories with all of you.” Joab Okell, ULH director and Rotary District Governor.