- Four-time Laureus Sportsman of the Year Usain Bolt
joins forces with 2023 Laureus Comeback of the Year
Christian Eriksen for an inspirational visit in
Manchester - Bolt and Eriksen visit Street League,
shortlisted for the 2025 Laureus Sport for Good
Award - 2025 Laureus World Sports Awards – the
world’s most prestigious sporting honours – to be staged
in Madrid on April 21 - ‘My message to the kids
today? Don’t think limits, anything is possible’ –
says Usain Bolt
MANCHESTER, March 26, 2025 –
Usain Bolt, the greatest sprinter of all-time, joined forces
with Manchester United star Christian Eriksen for a special
visit to a programme changing the lives of underprivileged
youth in Manchester.
Four-time Laureus World Sportsman
of the Year Usain Bolt and 2023 Laureus World Comeback of
the Year Christian Eriksen have both been acclaimed for
their outstanding contributions to their respective sports,
and today they took time to learn about the role sport can
play in changing the lives of young people in
underprivileged communities through Street
League.
During the visit, Usain and Christian took
part in training drills, shared lessons from their own
careers at the pinnacle of world sport and heard first-hand
about the role football plays in helping transform the lives
of young people involved in the Street League
programme.
Sprint sensation Usain Bolt, also a
lifelong Manchester United supporter, won an incredible
eight Olympic gold medals and 11 World Athletics
Championships gold medals in a glittering career. His 100m
world record of 9.58 seconds and 200m world record of 19.19
seconds set at the World Athletics Championships in 2009
still stand to this day. Usain’s dominance over his sport
saw him win the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award in
2009, 2010, 2013 and 2017.
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The fastest man of all
time, Usain Bolt, said: “I’ve heard about the work of
Laureus and Nelson Mandela’s vision that ‘sport has the
power to change the world’ attending the Laureus Awards
over the years so it was special to see those words in
action here in Manchester today. Laureus supports programmes
like Street League to help build confidence and resilience
in young people through sport and that’s something I’ve
experienced in my own life. If I had one message for the
kids I met today, it would be: Don’t think limits,
anything is possible.”
Danish midfield maestro
Christian Eriksen has spent his career at the top of global
football, representing Ajax, Tottenham Hotspur, Inter Milan
and Brentford before signing for Manchester United in 2022.
A stalwart of his national team, he is Denmark’s most
capped male player with 142 caps. In June 2021, Christian
collapsed on the field after suffering cardiac arrest during
a Euro 2020 match versus Finland. His inspirational return
to football was recognised with the Laureus World Comeback
of the Year Award at the 2023 Laureus Awards.
Denmark
and Manchester United star Christian Eriksen, said: “Life
is very important. That was part of my speech back in 2023
when I received the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award
and it’s true in the work programmes like Street League
that Laureus supports around the world. Laureus’ message
of sport having the power to change young people’s lives
is one I fully support, and what an honour to spend time
with one of Manchester United’s biggest and definitely
fastest supporters in Usain Bolt.”
Street League
uses the power of football to tackle poverty and give young
people the opportunities they need to succeed in life.
Street League’s unique approach uses sport to help build
resilience, confidence, education and employability skills
in young people aged 16-30, living in the UK’s most
disadvantaged communities.
Chief Executive Street
League Dougie Stevenson, said: “It means a great deal to
have such prominent and inspirational figures like Usain and
Christian visit Street League, amplifying our mission of
using sport and education to help young people into work.
Their encouraging words will motivate so many more of our
young people to make positive changes in their lives and the
impact of their visit will last long in our memories. It’s
a huge honour for Street League to be shortlisted for the
2025 Laureus Sport for Good Award, and I’d like to share a
special message of thanks to our partners at Laureus for
making this transformational visit happen.”
The
Laureus Sport for Good Award is presented each year at the
Laureus World Sports Awards to an organisation who, in the
opinion of the 69 sporting legends of the Laureus World
Sports Academy – the guardians of Sport for Good – have
made a significant contribution to transforming the lives of
children and young people through sport.
Joining
Street League on the Laureus Sport for Good Award shortlist
in 2025 are: Kick4Life, a charity using football to reach
at-risk children and young people in Lesotho; Figure Skating
in Harlem – based in the New York neighbourhood of the
same name – uses figure skating to help girls grow in
confidence, leadership and academic achievement; Kind Surf,
a project employing surf therapy to support young people at
risk of social exclusion due to intellectual disabilities in
Spain; Liberi Nantes, based in Rome, Italy, offers a range
of activities including touch rugby, hiking and Italian
language teaching through sport; Paris Basket 18 began as a
neighbourhood basketball club and now has an extensive
outreach into its
community.
