1GOAL:Education for All, the football world and FIFA-backed legacy project for the 2010 World Cup in alliance with the Telefónica group launched the world’s biggest ever mobile phone campaign with over 1 billion text messages going out to people in the coming weeks.

 Across its territories Telefónica will be promoting the ‘education for all’ message as part of its long-standing objective to make a positive impact on economic, technological and social progress.

 Shakira, 1GOAL Ambassador and Founder of the Barefoot Foundation said, “The World Cup captures the attention and hearts of millions. We must use this moment to raise our voices for 1GOAL and demand that this generation of children have the chance to fulfil their dreams and live up to their full potential through education.  I’m honored to be part of this incredible movement.”

 1GOAL has a target of getting millions of people to show their support for 1GOAL and already some of the biggest names in football such as Alessandro del Piero, Rio Ferdinand, Zinedine Zidane and Michael Essien have joined 8 million others to show their support for the campaign.  The outreach via the mobile companies will swell this even further if just 1% of people sign up via the mobile campaign a further 15 million people – the equivalent to the entire population of Holland – could join the campaign. 

 Handset manufacturers Nokia and Samsung will also be making available a 1GOAL mobile app for their customers.

The mobile campaign is being coordinated by the GSMA, which represents the global mobile industry. It includes a host of soccer related downloads, such as player images and videos, as well as ringtones, wallpapers and smartphone apps, culminating in a text message campaign calling for the support of billions of mobile users around the World Cup. Major Multinational mobile groups and networks supporting the campaign include: AT&T Wireless, Axiata Group Berhad, Batelco Group, Bharti-Airtel, CSL, Hutchison 3 Group, KT, MTN, NTT DOCOMO, Mobitel, Orascom Group, SingTel Group, Smart Communications, SOFTBANK MOBILE, SK Telecom, Telenor Group, Telefónica Group, TMN, Umniah, VimpelCom and Zain Group.

Backed by the Football world and FIFA, 1GOAL seeks to get every child into school by 2015, rallying support from footballers and fans across the world. The campaign is backed by over 140 of the biggest names in football and from the entertainment world Shakira, Jessica Alba and Kevin Spacey are supporting 1GOAL. An estimated $16 billion a year is needed to make universal education a reality, but currently only $4 billion is spent on primary education and 1GOAL is calling for further funding from both developing and rich countries to get every child in to a classroom.