About Us

Spirit of Soccer aims to reduce child casualties caused by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). We do this by delivering Mine Risk Education (MRE) through soccer coaching clinics to children living in densely mined areas of the world.

This is what we believe: No child should lose his or her life because of landmines or ERW. And no child should ever be denied the right to play sport with their own limbs because of landmines or ERW.

What is ‘Spirit of Soccer’?

Spirit of Soccer is a grassroots children’s charity which is registered in both the USA and UK and at present operates two soccer coaching projects at in Cambodia and Iraq.

What does Spirit of Soccer do?

Spirit of Soccer uses soccer (football) as a medium to educate children in countries affected by war of the dangers of landmines, ERW and unexploded ordnance (UXO).

In 1993, Spirit of Soccer founder and executive director Scotty Lee went to Bosnia to help deliver food and medicine to frontline villages and towns affected by the devastating civil war in the former Yugoslavia. During the next year, Scotty personally witnessed the effects of landmines and UXO on the civilian population.

In 1996, Scotty returned to Bosnia on a coaching trip sponsored by Arsenal Football Club. During this visit, a group of children playing football near Sarajevo Airport accidentally set off a landmine. Three of the players were killed, four others were maimed. All of them were under ten years old.

Sickened by the accident, Scotty Lee devised a way of teaching children about the dangers of landmines and UXO using soccer coaching. Spirit of Soccer was born.