World Football Day will now be observed on May 25 every year. This comes after a resolution passed by the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, May 7, allowing football supporters to commemorate the world’s most popular sport.
The resolution states that the day commemorates the 100th anniversary of the first-ever international soccer competition featuring participation from every region, which happened on May 25, 1924, during the summer Olympic games held in Paris.
With a bang of Dennis Francis’s gavel, the 193-member General Assembly passed the resolution by consensus, much to the delight of the assembled diplomats. Over 160 countries sponsored it in tandem.
The resolution’s presenter, Libya’s UN ambassador Taher El-Sonni, informed the assembly that “football, or soccer as some refer to it, is the number one game played and followed around the globe.” But he emphasized that soccer is more than just a game that people of all ages play for fun and in tournaments on the streets, in towns, in schools, and in courtyards. As a result of its “unparalleled position” in the sports world, El-Sonni stated that “Football, or soccer as others call it is the number one game played and followed around the globe.”
The resolution recognizes “the global reach of football and its impact in various spheres, including commerce, peace and diplomacy, and recognizing that football creates a space for cooperation.”
