Zambia 1998

While working in Zambia during the 1990s, Lennart Bäckman and Dan Allbäck saw, first-hand, the devastating effects HIV/AIDS had on Zambia. They wanted to help and make a difference. They also noticed how the children truly loved football and realized how impactful the sport was. With one ball, they could gather the children to explain and educate them about HIV/AIDS. 

Soon they realized that they needed an organization to help out, in order to really make an impact and see results. Through connections in Lusaka, Lennart and Dan were introduced to Nenani Banda, who just started a football academy under the name of Chiparamba Great Eagles Football Academy. It had been running for nearly one year, and it was exactly what Lennart and Dan was looking for – a football academy for children. After the first meeting between the three of them on a training field at six o’clock in the morning the collaboration started.

The Academy’s goal was not to win games or tournaments, but to educate Zambia’s youth about HIV/AIDS. To accomplish its goal and reach more children, they soon realized that the football side of the academy also needed to be developed and improved. As long time supporters, Lennart and Dan contacted Örgryte IS – Sweden’s oldest football club – and soon the partnership between the two organizations was established. 

Thanks to financial contributions from a handful of football fans with big hearts, a few youth coaches from Örgryte IS traveled to Zambia to help develop the academy and grow the partnership. This was the beginning of a great collaboration between the two clubs, and coaches from Chiparamba have since traveled to Gothenburg to spend time with Örgryte IS’s academy.

Gothenburg 2000

During the summer of 2000, the partnership between the two clubs expanded to the next level, with Chiparamba’s first participation in Gothia Cup. This was also the beginning to a continued participation in the worlds’ largest youth football tournament. Around this time, another prominent figure joined the Chiparamba Family, global investor Sven Norfeldt.

Sven is the founder and CEO of Dunross & Co., and Dunross Foundation. As a devoted Örgryte IS’s supporter, and football fan, he became very interested in the work Lennart and Dan were doing with Chiparamba in Zambia. He visited Lusaka and Zambia multiple times, to learn more about the country’s challenges, and the work Chiparamba was doing. On site, he was deeply touched and impressed by the importance football (and Chiparamba) had for these children. Since then, together with Lennart and Dan, Sven, his family, and Dunross & Co. have been one of the largest donors and supporters of Chiparamba Great Eagles Football Academy.

Present

Over the last few years, the organization has evolved and added a partnership with the “Meet The World” project, which the Academy is responsible for, in collaboration with the Swedish company SKF, Gothia Cup, and the Chiparamba Foundation. We are proud to note that today, Chiparamba is synonymous with youth football in Zambia, which is evidence that charitable causes, done right, can really make a huge difference.