Singapore Pools iShine Staff Volunteers, Football Association of Singapore and Sport Singapore successfully organized the fourth edition of Football With A Heart (FWAH) on 21 May 2016. With venue support from Sports Hub, FWAH was the first 5-a-side football charity fundraiser held at the National Stadium.
Parliamentarians, Mediacorp artistes, FOX channel personalities who were former footballers as well as corporate teams and youths donned their jerseys in support of nine selected beneficiaries. For over 8 hours, about 1,000 football players battled it out across 220 matches, played in six standard Futsal pitches. There were over 3,000 participants altogether as many players came with their family members, friends and supporters. The initiative reinforces the strong commitment of Singapore's major companies to use sports as a force for social good.
In the quarterfinals, the team from Keppel Care emerged as Group Winner after a series of keenly-fought games in the group stages, to face Team Jardine One Solution with a score of 3-1. They then overcame Team VM Ware in the semi-final 2-1, which led to a closely watched contest with an equally strong Team Raffles Medical in the final. In the end, Team Keppel Care emerged as this year's Football With A Heart champion with the final score of 4-1.
The highly-anticipated appearance by Valencia CF players and La Liga Ambassadors added much excitement to the tournament. They played an exhibition match with the Parliamentarians Team and also conducted a football clinic on the side-lines, to the delight of young football fans at the stadium.
To-date, FWAH 2016 has raised over $500,000 with strong support from 42 corporate donors. The final amount will be announced at the Celebratory Dinner on 3 June 2016 at the Singapore Sports Hub, where donation cheques will be presented to the nine selected beneficiaries. His Excellency President Tony Tan will be the guest-of-honour.
For more about FWAH, visit http://www.singaporepools.com.sg/ms/fwah2016/fwah_index.html or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SingaporePoolsInTheCommunity)