Ten days before FIFA women’s World Cup, and with the release of her book “Not for Girls?”, Champion for Peace and French International football player Melissa Plaza promotes gender equity in sport and beyond. Invited by Peace and Sport, she came to Monaco to share her experience and bring her message to the girls of ASM Football Féminin school.

Peace and Sport organized a “peace-through-football” session in partnership with the ASMFF, on May 28. Sponsor of the event, Mélissa Plaza exchanged with budding football players on the place of women in football before leading exercises designed to develop the positive values of sport such as dialogue, responsibility and team spirit.

Mélissa Plaza, Peace Champion and international football player, said:

“The football World Cup highlights the place of women in football. Being a Champion for Peace, I take this incredible opportunity to advocate for more inclusive sport, especially toward girls and women. Because sport is a huge vector of social emancipation, everyone should have access to it everywhere in the world. This is the message I want to share with the talented girls of the ASMFF. ”

The former D1 and international French player joined the Champions for Peace club with Peace and Sport in 2018. She is the first professional female football player to have a PhD in parallel with her career and she wrote her thesis in social psychology entitled “Gender stereotypes in sport”. On May 9, Mélissa Plaza released her book “Not for Girls?” (Pas pour les filles?) edited by Robert Laffont.

This session of “peace-through-football” is one of the components of the Peace and Sport methodology that will be soon digitized by My Coach Sport. On this occasion, Joël Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport, said:

“It’s a great pleasure to welcome Mélissa Plaza with ASMFF. Mélissa carries the values we want to spread through our methodology and digital app. The aim is to develop the use of sport as a tool for social cohesion and peace in a simple and adaptable way around the world. ”

Other peace-through-sport sessions will be organized along the year through the Peace and Sport field programs. Supported by the Champions for Peace, these sessions aim to convey the positive values of sport to young people and to develop the methodology of Peace and Sport for digitization by My Coach Sport. The peace-through-sport app’ will provide coaches, teachers and animators around the world with adapted digital solutions spreading peace-through-sport training and knowledge.

Peace and Sport and ASMFF have been partners for three years in order to promote the values of peace through sport in Monaco. Between 2015 and 2019, the number of ASMFF members increased by 300%, with currently 150 members. The club is expecting an evolution towards the high national level with an accession in D2 for next year.