A host of football’s biggest names — including USWNT star Naomi Girma, England international Ben Chilwell and Women’s Super League record scorer Vivianne Miedema — today launched a new player-led mental health initiative called Create the Space. The project, which brings together groups including Common Goal and Football Beyond Borders, aims to use the sport to tackle mental health issues from the highest levels of the professional game to the grassroots.
The initiative is being led by Common Goal, which since its inception in 2017 has drawn more than 250 names from the world of football, who donate a minimum of one percent of their earnings to projects around the world.
Create the Space is launching in both the UK and USA, where Girma will lead the movement. The San Diego Wave star is a vocal advocate for mental health in sport and dedicated her place at this year’s World Cup to Stanford team mate Katie Meyer, who died by suicide at the age of 23. “What I have learned through losing my best friend, is that everyone struggles in their own way, even when it doesn’t seem they are,” said Girma.
“Suffering doesn’t always look like the way it’s portrayed in the movies. No matter if I am a professional…
