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Rafael Nadal's foundation won the Sport for Good Award at the 2024 Laureus World Sports Awards. The Spaniard accepted the award alongside his wife Maria Francisca Perello.
The Rafa Nadal Foundation focuses on the integration and social development of young people in Spain and India. The organization uses the power of sports and education to empower young people and give them equal opportunities, thus helping them in better fulfilling their potential. The foundation was created in 2014 and uses sport as its core element to foster values such as team spirit, respect, and effort.
The 2024 Laureus World Sports Awards, held on 22 April, awarded the Spaniard's eponymous foundation with the Sport for Good Award, which honors the achievements of those who have contributed immensely to society through sports. They were nominated alongside Dancing Grounds, ISF Cambodia, Bola Pra Frente, Obiettivo Napoli, and Justice Desk Africa.
Laureus Sport took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the result.
"@frnadal are the 2024 Laureus Sport for Good Award recipients. The inspirational programme truly believes in the transformative power of sport. It helps over 1,000 vulnerable young people in Spain and India & empowers them to realise their potential"
"As Nelson Mandela said, sport has the power to change the world and we believe in these words" - Rafael Nadal's wife Maria Francisca Perello
Maria Francisca Perello, Rafael Nadal's wife and the director of the foundation, accepted the award alongside her husband.
In her acceptance speech, Maria thanked Laureus for the award and said that the foundation's core was based on Nelson Mandela's thought that sports have the power to change the world. She also mentioned the organization's main goal, which was to bring about a social change.
"Thank you very much for this award, it’s an honor for us to be here. As Nelson Mandela said, the sport has the power to change the world and we believe in these words so we have been working since 2010 with this idea. It’s not only physical activity, it’s about education, it’s about integration, and about social change," Maria said (at 32:30)
She continued by thanking everyone who was involved with the foundation and said that the award would give them a push to work harder with the belief that sport can change the world.
"So this trophy is for everyone who works at the foundation, all our collaborations and also for the kids who have been in our program since it started. So that trophy, push our team and and all of us, all the family to keep working and keep believing that sports has the power to change the world. So thank you very much," she added.
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