In this episode, I speak with Liam McGroarty, Strategic Development Manager at UEFA, about the social impacts of football. We discuss how the beautiful game improves lives and how investing in football could have substantial positive impacts. Fun fact: Liam started out as a priest but turned his professional efforts towards the “biggest religion” and is passionate about the power of sports.

My favorite learnings were:

• All things considered, amateur football probably adds more value to a national economy than the professional leagues. In Germany, the estimate is EUR 13.9 billion, vs. EUR 4.48 billion.
• Many of the benefits are health-related, but a sizable component is crime reduction. There is compelling evidence that an accessible offer to play can prevent kids from having problems with the police. The key is to bring the offer to those kids who don’t play already, for example, because their parents do not encourage it.
• We dive into the fascinating example of the Chances Program. In this social outcome partnership municipalities pay for outcomes such as improved school attendance, sports clubs deliver the intervention to a total of 6000 children, and impact investors provide the financing upfront.

Join us for a wonderful conversation that lifted my spirits about a few things that really do work for society.