The Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) proudly announced the appointment of four additional SIGA Champions as the latest athletes to join its ambassador programme to promote the highest standards of integrity in sport. This significant addition was made at the margins of the Sport Integrity Week at Cityscape Global 2024, bringing the SIGA Champions group to a total of 23 athletes, and coaches, and growing.
The new SIGA Champions are, in alphabetical order:
- Gilberto Silva (Brazil)
A former FIFA World Cup champion with Brazil, and Arsenal’s Premier League star, Gilberto Silva has focused on youth development and community support, emphasizing education and health in his initiatives.
- Nicola Innocentin (Italy)
An international football executive and founder of Global Football Service, Innocentin raises awareness on athlete health, through his work with UNBEATABLES, promoting heart health education.
- Sol Campbell (England)
Known for his legendary career as a defender with the England national team and clubs like Arsenal, where we won four FA Cups and two Premier League titles, Sol Campbell is a vocal advocate for inclusion and actively fights racism in sport.
The newly appointed Champions have achieved remarkable careers in international Football and will use their role model status to promote SIGA’s reform agenda in the field of Sport Integrity.
Their induction was celebrated by current SIGA Champion Louis Saha, former French National Team and Manchester United footballer, who emphasized the vital role athletes play in driving positive change in Sport.
Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, Global CEO, SIGA, welcomed the new Champions with a warm message:
“These exceptional athletes bring not only impressive careers but a profound commitment to Sport Integrity. As SIGA Champions they will harness their convictions, experiences and platforms to demonstrate and promote the far-reaching, beneficial outcomes of ensuring Sport is played, governed and operated with the highest levels of Integrity. Through their interventions, actions and powerful voices these Integrity Champions will amplify the pivotal principles that are enshrined in the SIGA mission and vision and help deliver our vision for Sport, ensuring that it is inclusive, accessible, sustainable and successful. We are honoured to have them join our cause at such a pivotal moment for Sport Integrity.”
Gilberto Silva:
“As a former player and now a dedicated advocate for youth development, I see first-hand how essential integrity is to every stage of a young athlete’s journey. Sport has the unique power to inspire and transform, and it’s our duty to protect it from any form of harm or exploitation. Through SIGA and my own initiatives with Striver, I am committed to creating a fun and safe abuse-free space and promoting education and health, ensuring young people have the opportunity to reach their full potential in an environment grounded in respect and integrity.”
Nicola Innocentin:
“The well-being and safety of athletes are paramount, especially when it comes to safeguarding them against health risks like sudden cardiac arrest. With my work at UNBEATABLES, I’m devoted to raising awareness and education on heart health, ensuring athletes receive the support they need. As a SIGA Champion, I am committed to bringing health-focused integrity to the forefront, advocating for safe sporting environments that prioritize athletes’ health and foster sustainable growth for the future of Sport.”
Sol Campbell:
“Football is a universal language, a source of pride, and a global stage for unity. Yet, in recent years, racism and discrimination have continued to cast a shadow over Sport, compromising the integrity of the game and alienating individuals who deserve equal respect and opportunity. Racism in football is not only an attack on individuals but a threat to the spirit of respect, unity, and fair play that sports embody. My commitment to this fight is rooted in my core belief in Sport Integrity. Football at its finest is a platform for unity, where every individual is valued and every fan feels a sense of belonging. Racism, prejudice, and exclusion contradict the very essence of the game and deny individuals the opportunity to fully participate”
The new SIGA Champions join a distinguished group of athletes, each united by a commitment to ensuring that sport remains a model of ethics and integrity. Together, this dynamic coalition allows SIGA to further its vision of a sporting world governed by the highest standards, delivering positive impacts to communities and citizens worldwide, and free from any criminal infiltration.
These stars join a growing assembly of SIGA Champions that include, Miguel Oliveira, MotoGP Racer; Majlinda Kelmendi, Olympic Champion Judoka; Rosa Mota, Olympic Champion Marathon Runner; Cristina Goncalves, Paralympic Champion Boccia Player and many more.
In total the SIGA Champions encompass high-level athletes and coaches from 9 countries, across 12 sports, including Football, Basketball, Rugby, Taekwondo, Luge, Boccia, Judo, MotoGP, Gymnastics, Wheelchair Tennis, Boxing, and Track & Field Athletics. This broad representation reflects SIGA’s dedication to uniting athletes from around the globe under a shared mission of promoting integrity in Sport.
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ABOUT SIGA
SIGA is the world’s leading organisation for Sport Integrity. We are creating a whole new landscape for the sports industry by delivering independent global rating and certification for world Sport to ensure it is governed and operates under the highest integrity standards: The SIGA Universal Standards.
Funded by our Members, SIGA is a non for profit global independent organisation with one aim: To ensure the sport industry is governed under the highest integrity standards so that the values of sport are protected.
SIGA is the only organisation to bring together sport, governments, academia, international organisations, sponsors, business, rights holders, NGOs and professional services companies, from every region in the world, around a common cause of fostering greater integrity throughout sport.
SIGA is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, as a non for-profit association, and comprises of the following continental subsidiaries: SIGA AMERICA, SIGA EUROPE and SIGA LATIN AMERICA.
For more information on SIGA, including its vision, mission and reform agenda, please refer to the website: www.siga-sport.com and FAQs.
To contact SIGA, please email: [email protected].
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