This year’s Laureus World Sports Awards (LWSA) on 17 February in Berlin will be a particularly propitious occasion, as it will mark the 20th time that these prestigious awards have been presented.
Together with Laureus, Mercedes-Benz will be celebrating the anniversary as a long-standing partner of Laureus Sport for Good.
Twenty years have passed since, in early 2000, Daimler AG founded the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation together with Richemont. Upon establishing the Foundation, the partners set themselves the goal of enabling disadvantaged children and young people throughout the world to have better lives through the unifying power of sport – in keeping with the overarching Laureus motto “Sport Unites Us”. Nelson Mandela, the first patron of Laureus, provided the inspiration for this motto in a speech he gave at the inaugural Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000: “Sport has the power to change the world.”
Around the globe, Laureus Sport for Good currently supports around 200 sports projects in 40 countries. Over the past two decades, it has imbued millions of disadvantaged children and young people with strength, courage and self-confidence. In selecting projects for sponsorship, the Laureus Sport for Good is guided by specific sustainability goals of the United Nations (UN). The focus of these objectives is on health, education, women and girls, inclusion, peace and employability.
Right from the outset, Mercedes-Benz has remained a steadfast partner of the Laureus Sport for Good. “For 20 years, we have been working together with Laureus Sport for Good to help socially disadvantaged children and young people,” explains Bettina Fetzer, head of marketing at Mercedes-Benz Cars. “Because sport has the power to change the world. We are proud of our roughly 200 sports projects in 40 countries around the globe.”
Over the past two decades, a total of 150 million euros in donations have been raised. This has enabled Laureus Sport for Good to reach nearly six million children and young people around the world. It also provides non-financial support in the areas of PR, networking and consulting. In addition, more and more local Mercedes-Benz subsidiaries are supporting Laureus Sport for Good projects on location, in order to further increase the scope of the initiative.
Source: www.daimler.com
Laureus World Sports Awards 2019 with Sean Fitzpatrick (Chairmen of Laureus), Bettina Fetzer (Vice President Marketing Mercedes-Benz Cars) and Albert II, Prince of Monaco (l-r, Photo: Daimler)
