There are 26 coaches taking care of 350 players in Ambassadors. They work on their football skills as well as on their character and personality. Every individual is important. Our players matter to us more than sport results. Football is an incredible tool for human development and sharing Christianity with its values. Ambassadors coaches are Christians who have something to pass on in life. We encourage our coaches in their growth and development because you cannot pass on something you do not have. We aim to bring Christianity on the pitch – to create a friendly, respectful, and understanding environment where everyone is welcomed.
We need your help to serve children and young adults in Prague, Ukrainian refugees, and people in need in Děčín. Your support will enable us to improve our programs, share know-how, and organize summer camps. But primarily, you will help us in our search for our own football pitch – a place where our programs could have positive influence on thousands of lives. We cannot do this without you. Thank you!
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Ambassadors keeps growing!
In 2023, 26 coaches from 7 different Christian denominations worked with 350 players they lead in sports, personality, and spirituality development. 250 players play in the Ambassadors FC Prague club, where we work with players from 6 years old to adults! Other players are part of our newly founded Ambassadors FC Děčín club or took part in one-off events. Over the past 29 years, we have served over 3,000 children and young people!
In 2023, we held 464 training sessions on 15 pitches and2 football camps. During all the training sessions, we also had the opportunity to address the players with spiritual programs, where we shared Christianity and its values with the players. The Ambassadors teams played 74 matches in which we tried to change the football environment positively with our approach to the game. We are also here for other teams and clubs whose players we care about.
As an organization, we keep growing and want to continue growing, not for ourselves but for our players.
We would be grateful if you decided to join the Ambassadors story and support us in our efforts to serve players.
What we achieved in 2023
You can hear about the goals we achieved in 2023 in the following video. You can find more information below if you prefer reading over watching videos.
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We started a Czech-Ukrainian team where we focused on serving refugees from Ukraine. Training and programs are translated into both languages. We involved other players from Ukraine to our already existing teams as well.
We have established Ambassadors in another city - Děčín! Under the guidance of coach Marek Vicany, regular training sessions and even a summer camp took place. For local players, the service also has a significant social impact.
We significantly developed the Ambassadors FC Praha club:
We started 3 new teams in Prague: U8, U17 and Women´s team There are already 250 active players in Prague! Thus, 50 new players joined our club this year. Chairman Lukáš Kozák and head coach Tomáš Jeník lead Ambassadors FC Prague. We are happy that, thanks to your support, we can have new, passionate, and competent leaders taking our service to a higher level.
We have practically and financially supported the Ambassadors ministry in Slovakia
We organized 2 Ambassadors camps for a total of 75 players. Camps bring the opportunity to establish deeper relationships with the players and create a safe space for opening up more profound questions of faith and life. Kemp helps make Christianity more understandable for players. During the camp, strong friendships that bring our teams together are formed.
We supported our coaches and found new ones:
Coaches and leaders are crucial for our ministry. They are the ones who take care of players. That's why we invested time and resources into their further education and organized seminars, individual and group mentoring, and exercises. We educated young leaders at regular study meetings as part of the leadership program; we also visited Croatia in February, where we had the opportunity to experience the ministry's international outreach. We are glad that young leaders are involved in trainings and programs in our teams. Our coaches underwent coaching training and obtained official licenses from the Football Association, as well as new skills, experience, and contacts. We got a new coach from the USA named Daniel Blessing, who moved to the Czech Republic in July and is helping us a lot. Among other things, he is the head coach of the Czech-Ukrainian team.
The only goal that remained unfulfilled in 2023 is to find our football field in Prague. We took many steps - looked for new places, approached influential people, and let everyone around us know about the need for our pitch - the football environment, members, friends, and fans. We haven't found the pitch yet, but we're not giving up. You can read more about our plans for his next search below.
Thank you to all of you who supported us in 2023! With your help, we can achieve such success in developing the Ambassadors ministry for the benefit of children and young people.
Why do we need your support for 2024?
We need your help to serve children and young people in Prague to take care of children from Ukraine and people in need from Děčín. By supporting this campaign, you will also help us improve the quality of our programs and focus even more on individuals, support activities in Slovakia, lead and educate our coaches, pass on our know-how, or organize summer camps. Above all, you will allow us to strive for our football field, which will be a place where we can positively influence the lives of thousands of people!
Current opportunities for our ministry go far beyond our funding opportunities. We have learned how to obtain some grants, but unfortunately, public resources are being cut rather than increased. Other subsidies are fixed on owning a football field as is the interest of possible more prominent corporate sponsors. Former financial support from the USA, linked to the former director Ondřej Mazaný, has almost ended. We are very grateful to everyone who supports Ambassadors, individuals, several churches, and foundations, without which we could not function fundamentally, let alone care for many people.
If we were to "only" maintain existing activities in 2024, we would not be asking for your help and would probably be able to get by with our income. Paradoxically, the more successful we are, the more funding we seek because a range of possibilities allows us to develop our ministry. Often, these opportunities may not come again.
You have a unique opportunity to help us at a crucial moment when we are facing several challenges, but at the same time, we have many development opportunities. You can learn more about them in the next paragraph about our goals for 2024.
What do we want to achieve in 2024?
1) Find a concrete possibility of obtaining our football field. Our pitch would bring the Ambassadors FC Prague club to a new level.Such a field would allow us to create a community with players, parents, and fans. The scale of our activities and the number of players, combined with the skills that we demonstrate in organizing and coaching football, will open the door for us to the forthcoming interviews. We often hear that a new field cannot be found in Prague, but we are not giving up. On the contrary, we are gathering specific strategies to achieve it because where there is a will, there is also a path.
2) Continue serving players in Prague. Every player is important to us. We focus on developing football skills and Christian programs that are part of our trainings. Thus, we have over 400 opportunities to reach out to our players yearly.
3) Establish and develop small groups for players, which would be a safe place where everyone can come with their questions and problems and get answers. At the same time, there will be room for participants to learn even more than during our programs in teams.
4) Stabilize the new Ministry of Ambassadors FC Děčín club and look for ways of cooperation with the city and local schools, which have already contacted us.
5) To develop and educate our coaches on football, personality, and spirituality so that they are well-prepared to serve the players. We are also going to continue to look for new coaches to expand our existing 26-member team.
6) Work with refugees from Ukraine. We want to give them hope, joy, and a sense of belonging within mixed teams so they are not isolated.
7) Train sports chaplains. A chaplain is a person who is a part of a sports team. He leads programs and is available for those who want to talk. He supports players in various life situations. This model is standard in the West. We see chaplaincy as an opportunity to improve our ministry to players within the Ambassadors teams. In the future, we also want to offer chaplains to other teams and thus bring Christianity and care for players to teams outside our club. Our goal for next year is to have chaplains on our league teams and, at the same time, train them through international training.
8) To organize sports training and activities outside of Prague so that we can bring our know-how to other places as well.
9) Stabilize the newly established women's team to have its leaders, facilities, players, and a Christian program (as in other teams).
10) Organize an Ambassadors camp.
11) Improve our cooperation with Christian congregations and churches. We are naturally connected with them - our leaders are their members, each in their denomination. At the same time, the church is where players the Christian faith in Ambassadors has touched can come, experience it, and get to know it more deeply. The church is an excellent place to bring your questions, problems, or doubts. We want to be better prepared for our players so they have specific options for where to go.
12) Continue to support the ministry in Slovakia, where already 100 players have experienced Ambassadors ministry in two cities. We are grateful for Lukáš David - the local director. Slovakia is considering starting a children's ministry, which would be a significant step forward.
We believe that all these goals will improve the lives of specific people: Someone will play football under the guidance of good coaches in a safe environment, another may grow as a person, and a third may find the meaning of life.
You can help them to do this by supporting this fundraising campaign! With your help, we will be able to make our plans come true. Thank you.
"A coach will impact more people in one year than the average person will in an entire lifetime."
- Billy Graham
We are open to any questions you might have. If you have further questions, contact Jan Němeček, director of Ambassadors Football CZ, at +420 732 147 847 or email jnemecek@ambassadors.cz. He will be happy to hear from you or respond to your message.
From the bottom of our hearts, we are grateful for any donation that will allow us to continue our efforts to serve children, their families, youth, and adults involved in Ambassadors. Thanks to you, we can, through football, share life values that go beyond football.You help us bring positive change to the lives of our players. Thank you.
Please donate today and be one of those who help positively influence the younger generation.
