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Kick4Life FC (K4L) is the world's first football club exclusively dedicated to social change. Currently playing in the Lesotho Men's Premier League and the Lesotho Women's Super League the club is a registered charity in Lesotho, the UK and the US, and aims to utilise the power of football to change the lives and long-term prospects of young people in Lesotho.
Kick4Life FC is a football club based in Lesotho. Based in Maseru, the club’s mission is to transform the lives and long-term prospects of vulnerable young people in Lesotho, through a wide range of Football for Good activities focused on health, education, gender equality and employability.
Kick4Life was founded as a charity in 2005 by brothers Steve Fleming and Pete Fleming from the UK. A men’s team was founded in 2008 and a women’s team in 2009. The men’s team became champions of the Northern Stream A-Division League in 2013/14 and was promoted to the Lesotho Premier League, since maintaining its top flight status. The women’s team became founding members of the Lesotho Women’s Super League in 2015, winning the Super League Cup in 2018 and becoming national Super League Champions in 2021.
In June 2020 Kick4Life FC became the first top flight football club in the world to commit to gender equal budgets and pay.
Kick4Life delivers a range of social interventions around health education, gender equality, employability and life-skills development including Girls United, Good Health & Wellbeing through Sport and the Kick4Life Academy, which provides vulnerable children & young people with intensive academic support, football coaching and character development. In 2007 Kick4Life pioneered the Test Your Team model which featured football tournaments with integrated health education and voluntary HIV testing and counselling.
Kick4Life’s social programmes have been recognised with the following awards and nominations:
• Best Implementing Project for HIV/AIDS by the National AIDS Commission, 2008
• Best Project for Health, Score4Africa Awards, 2009
• Beyond Sport Award for Health, 2010
• Global Sport Forum Community Award, 2011
• Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, Best Practice Award
• Stars Foundation Rising Star Award, 2013
• Network Board Members of streetfootballworld, 2013-2015
Kick4Life runs a number of social enterprises at its centre in Maseru designed to generate income for its Football for Good programmes as well as providing job and training opportunities for young people. The enterprises include No.7 Restaurant and Hokahanya Inn and Conference Centre, both opened in 2014.
Kick4Life Assist is a training and development service through which Kick4Life has supported Sport for Good projects around the world with curriculum development, coach training and strategy development. This includes developing the Kick for trade Curriculum in partnership with the International Trade Centre and UEFA Foundation for Children.
Eleven is a book written and published in 2010 by Kick4Life Co-founder Steve Fleming, with foreword by England national football team coach, Fabio Capello. The book tells the true stories of eleven individuals – the number of people in a football team – and their struggles with poverty, war and disease, and how ultimately, football has helped to change their lives. The book was published by Pitch Publishing and nominated for the Peace & Sport Special Jury Prize 2011.
Lesotho, officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is an enclaved country surrounded entirely by South Africa. It is by far the largest of the world's three independent states completely surrounded by the territory of another country, with Vatican City and San Marino being the other two. Additionally, it is the only such state outside the Italian peninsula, and the only one that is not a microstate. Lesotho is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) and has a population of about 2 million. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. The official languages are Sesotho and English.
Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. The city was established as a police camp and assigned as the capital after the country became a British protectorate in 1869. When the country achieved independence in 1966, Maseru retained its status as capital. The name of the city is a Sesotho word meaning "red sandstones".
The Lesotho Premier League also known as Econet Premier League is the top football division in Lesotho and was created in 1970. Econet Telecom Lesotho are the current league sponsor, since 2017/2018 season. Vodacom Lesotho were the previous league sponsor and were also the sponsor of the now cancelled Vodacom Soccer Spectacular knockout competition, which was the Lesotho's annual national cup tournament.
Sentebale is a registered charity, founded in 2006 by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
HIV/AIDS in Lesotho constitutes a very serious threat to Basotho and to Lesotho's economic development. Since its initial detection in 1986, HIV/AIDS has spread at alarming rates in Lesotho. In 2000, King Letsie III declared HIV/AIDS a natural disaster. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2016, Lesotho's adult prevalence rate of 25% is the second highest in the world, following Eswatini.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Lesotho face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Lesotho does not recognise same-sex marriages or civil unions, nor does it ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Bokang Mothoana is a Mosotho footballer who plays for Kick 4 Life.
Thapelo Tale is a Lesotho football striker who plays for Likhopo.
Matlama Football Club is the champion of Lesotho and the most successful club in the country. It is based in the city of Maseru, capital of the Lesotho.Matlama Football Club formed in 1932, is the most decorated team in Lesotho, having won the record 10 league championships. It is based in the capital city Maseru, its colors are Royal Blue and Manchester white .The home ground of MATLAMA FC is Pitso ground, the venue where Lesotho gained its independence. The club is renowned for its entertaining style of play which is developed from its junior ranks from under12 to the senior team, the team boasts one of the oldest and most successful youth structure in the country so much that almost all the teams in the Premier league have the products of such an academy affectionally known as Bafana.
The sport of football in the country of Lesotho is run by the Lesotho Football Association. The association administers the national football team, as well as the Premier League. Football is the most popular sport in the country.
Sport for social development is a method of bringing about social change through the use of sports. In the United States this is commonly referred to as sports-based youth development. Sport refers to the physical activity and development in any individual, health, social and economic benefits. Sport is used as a tool for peace and development. The programs use sport to help children learn lifelong skills as an incentive for the children to improve their scholarship. Sport is used as a tool to reach personal and community goals. Most organizations utilizing this method are geared towards underprivileged children and teenagers in urban areas.
Lesotho’s Human development index value for 2018 was 0.518 — which put the country in the low human development category — positioning it at 164 out of 189 countries and territories. Health care services in Lesotho are delivered primarily by the government and the Christian Health Association of Lesotho. Access to health services is difficult for many people, especially in rural areas. The country’s health system is challenged by the relentless increase of the burden of disease brought about by AIDS, and a lack of expertise and human resources. Serious emergencies are often referred to neighbouring South Africa. The largest contribution to mortality in Lesotho are communicable diseases, maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions.
The Lesotho women's national football team is the national team of Lesotho and is controlled by the Lesotho Football Association.
Football for Hope Movement came about after collaborative work between streetfootballworld and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The movement was established to further conversation and development of relationships between existing social development and football organizations, various football club teams and individual players, as well as other commercial partners. By using the sport of football as its main vehicle, Football for Hope works to ultimately further develop and achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals.
UCFB is a Higher Education institution offering undergraduate and postgraduate university degrees and executive education in the football business, sport and events industries.
Lesotho Defence Force FC is a Lesotho football club based in Maseru. It is based in the city of Maseru in the Maseru District.
Janine van Wyk is a South African soccer player who plays as a defender for Scottish club Glasgow City FC and captains the South Africa women's national team. She is the highest capped player in South Africa with 170 appearances, and highest capped female in CAF.
African Clean Energy is a B Corp-certified enterprise which produces and distributes solar-biomass hybrid energy systems in developing countries. The company was founded in Lesotho, where it manufactures the ACE One Energy System. The company's headquarters are in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
In 2017, 1.1 million women were living in Lesotho, making up 51.48% of the population. 33% of women are under 15 years of age, 61.4% are between 15 and 64 years old and 5.3% are over 64 years old. They received full legal status in 2008 with the passage of The Lesotho Bank Savings and Development Act of 2008, and they die at a disproportionate rate from HIV/AIDs. But, historically women have wielded power as heads of households, with control over household financial decisions. The government has also taken steps to ensure more equal representation of genders in government with quotas, and women in Lesotho are more highly educated than men. Still, domestic abuse, sexual violence, lack of social mobility, and aforementioned health crises are persistent issues. Social and economic movements, like the mass immigration of men to South Africa, and the rise of the garment industry, have contributed to both the progress and problems facing women in Lesotho today.
Boitumelo Joyce Rabele is a Mosotho footballer who plays as a forward for Canadian college team CBU Capers and captains the Lesotho women's national team.