Thirty Years of Practice as Theory of Change
After creating Common Goal ten years ago, Juan and Jürgen continued asking the same fundamental question: How can football’s extraordinary power to connect people be put at the service of humanity?
Juan has won everything football can offer, and built Common Goal into the sport's largest solidarity movement in football. Jürgen spent thirty years building the infrastructure this sector didn't have.
It taught them the same lesson from different angles: collaboration needs to be radically contributive if the goal is sustainable transformation. It cannot be built from the top down, but passing the ball, with trust and confidence, person to person.
Building on these two careers, they now co-create c-lab.
juan mata
He has won everything football has to offer: the World Cup, the Euros, the Champions League, the Europa League. He has worn the shirts of Real Madrid, Valencia, Chelsea, Manchester United, Galatasaray, Vissel Kobe, Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Victory, where he was named A-League Player of the Year.
But his greatest impact continues beyond the pitch. He co-founded and continues as Board Member of Common Goal, the movement that channels 1% of football salaries towards social change. He supports UNICEF, Save the Children, Laureus and SOS Children’s Villages.
He invests in the future of sport: Mercury 13 and women’s football, Alpine F1, San Diego FC. He curates exhibitions where football meets art. Suddenly a Footballer is his story from the inside, and he speaks to more than 24 million people with one conviction at its heart: football unites.
Juan needs no introduction. He needs accomplices.
jurgen griesbeck
Thirty years building at the intersection of football and social change, recognised by Ashoka, the World Economic Forum’s Schwab Foundation, Laureus Sport for Good, FIFA Fair Play and the World Football Summit Honours Awards.
Jürgen founded Football for Peace, streetfootballworld and Common Goal, each, in its time, creating a new infrastructure for a sector that had none.
Now he is co-creating C-Lab, an endeavour to decode the formula for sustainable transformation at scale.
He is an inter-connector obsessed with building a better humanity, convinced of football’s unique potential to make it possible: a world that welcomes everyone with the opportunity to become the best version of themselves.
Jürgen doesn’t build organisations. He builds what is needed, when it is needed.
