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The One Goal: Bringing visibility to women’s football
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The One Goal is a charitable organisation that works to raise funds from women’s football for sport for development projects. sportanddev talked to cofounder Daniela Porcelli to find out more.

Daniela Porcelli is a banker, a sports photographer focusing on women’s football and the cofounder of a charitable organisation called the One Goal. The organisation’s vision is “to become a unique worldwide charitable organisation that uses an authentic process within the women’s game [of football] to achieve it.”

Visibility through auctions

Daniela and Swedish professional football goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl set up the organisation in 2018. As Daniela says, “we had an idea to create something in women’s football where fans could get authentic items, signed or not signed, items which are not existing a lot.”

In men’s football, there is a lot of merchandise that is sold and auctioned – but the same is not true for women’s football. As a fan herself, Daniela wanted a platform where fans could bid on and buy jerseys and other items.

Daniela and Hedvig used their football connections to approach professional female footballers to donate items which could be auctioned off. In the first year and a half, the One Goal made £10,000. Daniela recognises that it is not a large amount for a charity but considering that they are working in the realm of women’s football, it is a big feat.

When COVID-19 hit, The One Goal started the Together Against Corona campaign, where they auctioned off 20 jerseys. They raised almost £25,000 pounds. 80% of the money went to WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, and the remainder went to a charity of the player’s choosing. The demand for these items is there, and The One Goal is meeting it.

The One Goal usually sells items through single item auctions. But recently they have found that raffles can be a successful way of engaging with a larger audience. Raffles also allow many more people to participate because fans that do not have enough money to bid on a single item can buy a raffle ticket. This also allows fans from across the world to participate.

Why football rather than another sport? As Daniela says, “Football is worldwide. […] Everybody can play. A lot of people love [it]. It is a big connection.”

There is also a practical reason to focus on football, as Daniela notes: “[There’s] a lot of money involved in football. […] So to raise money in that area and then give it back towards [the development of] the sport [made sense].”

Football for development

Daniela and Hedvig have a vision for the funds that they raise –to ensure that the profits go towards projects around the world that are working on girls’ and women’s sports, especially football. For Daniela, it is not important that the organisation focuses on building elite athletes – rather, she hopes to find sport for development organisations that are helping women and girls reach their dreams and achieve their goals. Some of the organisations they support include Jambo Bukoba, Football Beyond Borders, Förderverein FI9, Futebol dá força and the Swiss Academy for Development.

Transparency is also important. While Daniela and Hedvig understand that they cannot control where the money goes, it is important for them to see that the money is being used in projects. As Daniela states, when donating to some large organisations, “I don’t know see [it], I don’t see what’s happening […] I kind of get lost. But if I give money [to a smaller organisation], I can see what they’re doing with that money. A lot of people feel that way nowadays about charities. They need to be closer. And when they have a personal connection or interest like football, they donate.”

Women’s football in the last decade

Women’s football has grown considerably in the last decade. Though it is still not often shown on TV, online coverage has become more prominent. But, while progress is being made, women’s football is still nowhere close to where Daniela would like it to be, and a lot of that has to do with people’s mentality regarding women’s sports.

Women’s football, like any other women’s sport, does not make as much money as its male counterpart – and this financial disincentive is the biggest barrier facing women’s sport. Yet, as Daniela states, “I don’t mind if they’re women or men, I just want to see football.” For fans, it shouldn’t matter if it is men’s football or women’s football – what matters is the game.

This sexist mentality is the same that makes some question whether women can actually play football or sports, or do any traditionally ‘masculine’ things. There need is to change this line of thinking. And as Daniela points out, sexism is not just an issue in the Global South – it is prevalent in much of Europe as well.

Daniela emphasises that most of the players that donate merchandise to the One Goal do not have a lot of merchandise to begin with – since women’s football has less money, players tend to own less jerseys and other items that they can donate. As she points outs: “In men’s football, we see Ronaldo throw a jersey in the stands every match, because they get a few jerseys a game. In women’s football, it’s the other way around – they get only a few every season.”

The players that are willing to donate are doing so because they want to invest in the future and want to spread the power of football. The One Goal aims to highlight these players’ stories, and show that these players are role models too. Daniela hopes that by emphasising these players and their stories, we may move beyond focusing only on male footballers as role models and find inspiration in female footballers too.