In 1996, a Youth Charter Office was launched in South Africa on June 16th Youth Day, during the Vision for Sport II Conference in St Petersburg, with the endorsement of President Mandela and celebrated with South African sports men and women.

Social Coach Leadership workshops were delivered by the Youth Charter founder and chair, Geoff Thompson, with the The Orlando Pirates and Kaiser Chiefs in Johannesburg, and the Youth Charter hosted SASOL U23 Olympic Squads Soccer Exchanges against the Moss Side Amateur Reserves in Manchester, with the Bafana Bafana visiting the streets of Moss Side in 1997 before the England versus South Africa match at Old Trafford, Manchester, where the South African and UK ministers signed up to the Anglo-South African Sport initiative.

In 1998, an England masters tour of South Africa was organised by the Youth Charter and The FA. The Youth Charter then supported both England’s and South Africa’s bids to host the 2006 FIFA World Cups. This saw the Youth Charter presenting at SAFA Indaba and hosting a South Africa delegation at our offices in Salford, Greater Manchester. The Youth Charter also attended the U17 FIFA World Cup in Calabar, Nigeria, and delivered workshops in Cameroon, Mali and Zambia, as part of the England and South Africa 2006 World Cup bids.

A Youth Charter scroll was signed by FIFA and African World 11 at the Mandela farewell game as part of the pre-match ceremony in partnership with SOS Children’s Villages and was then presented to President Nelson Mandela.

The Youth Charter supported the successful South Africa 2010 World Cup bid, hosting and legacy. During the tournament the Youth Charter celebrated June 16th Youth Day with visits to schools hosted by South African National and Provincial Education Departments. Following the tournament the Youth Charter delivered Social Coach Leadership workshops with coaches at the Future ChampionsTournament in Gauteng in 2014 and 2015, with schools invited to the tournament. Young people from the tournament visited the Youth Charter Office in Manchester, where they also attended the Global Soccerex Conference in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The Youth Charter continues to build on this considerable Soccerwise legacy work through the proposed Africawise Community Campuses and our work with The Mark Fish Foundation in South Africa, following the launch of the Youth Charter ‘30’ South Africa Report in Soweto on Youth Day 16th June 2023 and the launch of the Youth Charter AFCON Soccerwise Report at the African Sports Unified Connex Summit 2024 in London.