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Visa provides €50,000 UEFA Foundation for Children donation as it continues to empower female athletes at all levels

14/05/2021

  • Visa to make €50,000 donation following this weekend’s UEFA Women’s Champions League final
  • Winner of the Player of the Match Award can choose which charity or project will receive the donation
  • UEFA Foundation for Children currently supports 168 humanitarian and development projects globally. More than 1,180,000 children have benefited from the foundation’s work since its creation.

LONDON, UK – May 14th, 2021 – Today, Visa (NYSE: V)announced a €50,000 donation to the UEFA Foundation for Children as part of their sponsorship of the Player of the Match Award at this weekend’s UEFA Women’s Champions League Final in Gothenburg.

It is the second year running that Visa will give the recipient of the Player of the Match Award the opportunity to choose one of the many projects supported by the UEFA Foundation for Children to receive the donation from Visa. The foundation uses football as a springboard to empower and improve the prospects of children around the world, through setting up a number of educational projects to give children a safe place to learn and play.

The Player of the Match Award, which has been presented by Visa since 2019, celebrates individual excellence in women’s football. The award champions the values of female empowerment, diversity and equality, which are the driving forces behind Visa’s work in supporting women’s football.

Adrian Farina, Head of Marketing, Visa in Europe, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted the momentum women’s football has been gathering over recent years. It is so important, therefore, to stand alongside female footballers to ensure the game returns stronger than ever before in what is an exciting year to come. We’re incredibly proud of our involvement, in partnership with Women’s UEFA, to help increase visibility of the women’s game and empower female athletes at all levels, and we’re pleased to be directly supporting those using football for good through this donation.”

"We are delighted that Visa has reiterated its support to charity projects in favour of children" said Urs Kluser, General Secretary of the UEFA Foundation for Children. "We are happy to involve the excellence of women's football to the solidarity movement and promote values like inclusion and gender equality on and off the pitch".

Visa is committed to empowering female athletes and increasing diversity and inclusion in all facets of life. Visa’s introduction of The Second Half initiative offers female footballers training, mentoring and work experience, designed to help them take the skills they have gained through their football careers and apply them to areas beyond sport. In doing so, Visa hopes to help players prepare for their transition off the pitch. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Visa has also provided additional support to Team Visa European female footballers by offering some Visa University training, while players were also granted access to LinkedIn learning via Visa’s corporate license.

About Visa Inc.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit About Visavisa.co.uk/blog and @VisaUK.

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