A major deal for the Johan Cruyff Foundation with Cruyff Courts in Malaysia

Amsterdam / Kuala Lumpur, 12 February 2018 – The Johan Cruyff Foundation will create two to three Cruyff Courts per year in Malaysia in the coming years. A letter of intent to this end was signed on February 9th with Yayasan Hasanah in Kuala Lumpur. It is expected that a total of 15 to 20 Cruyff Courts will be built in Malaysia in the coming years. Studies will also be carried out to establish whether the concept of Schoolyard14 can be developed, and whether there is scope for Special Cruyff Courts for children with disabilities.

Yayasan Hasanah is an impact-based foundation that is striving to create real, lasting, and positive social and environmental change for Malaysia through its work, which focuses on Education, Community Development, Environment, Arts, Heritage & Culture, Knowledge, and Public Spaces. Within these focus areas, it partners with civil society, communities, corporations, and government agencies to design and implement initiatives that will best help achieve that vision.

The letter of intent was signed during the first trade mission undertaken last week by Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade & Development Cooperation. The trade mission ended with a training session in the football stadium in Kuala Lumpur, where clinics were given by Cruyff Football (Wim Jonk) for coaches of the National Football Development Program in Malaysia, and for more than 100 boys and girls from Kuala Lumpur.

The Cruyff Foundation has been active in Malaysia for some time, with four Cruyff Courts in Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, and other cities. The Court in Johor Bahru was opened by Johan Cruyff in 2002. There have been very positive experiences with those Cruyff Courts, so it was decided to greatly increase their number in Malaysia. This will enable the Cruyff Foundation to create a major impact without major investments on its part.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is funding a training course for Cruyff Foundation Coaches in Kuala Lumpur. This course will be rolled out in 2018 and enable local coaches and youth workers to implement the ‘Heroes of the Cruyff Courts’ program on the new Cruyff Courts in Malaysia with youngsters from the neighbourhood, thereby creating role models.

Niels Meijer, director of the Cruyff Foundation, is delighted with this collaboration. ‘Our motto “The Cruyff Foundation helps children move up by being active” is universal, and we are constantly highlighting this. We show how this works on our Cruyff Courts. We do this in the Netherlands as well as in other countries – preferably where we can sustainably set up and expand our initiatives. So we are delighted about the joint venture with Yayasan Hasanah and the Ministry. This will ensure sustainability and a guaranteed impact on children in Malaysia.’

About the Johan Cruyff Foundation

The Johan Cruyff Foundation helps children move up by being active, so they can play and grow together. Sport and play improves their fitness, teaches them to get along with each other, and helps them to develop. Through Cruyff Courts, Schoolyard14, and sports projects for children with a disability, we want to motivate children to get active.

We help keep thousands of children all over the world active every week. The Johan Cruyff Foundation is supported by several permanent partners: The Dutch Postcode Lottery, Seacon Logistics, VodafoneZiggo, COOP, TenCate Grass, Cargill, People’s Postcode Lottery, La Caixa Foundation, and Fundació FC Barcelona.

About Yayasan Hasanah

Yayasan Hasanah (“Hasanah”) is the impact based foundation of Khazanah Nasional Berhad (“Khazanah”), the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia. Hasanah was set up as an independent entity on 01 July 2015, building on nine years of Corporate Responsibility (CR) efforts previously driven by Khazanah. As a grant-giving organization, Hasanah goes beyond dollars and cents to facilitate an ecosystem of transformation, working in collaboration with multiple stakeholders, infusing a spirit of advocacy and building capacity in five key focus areas: Education; Community Development; Environment; Arts, Heritage and Culture; and Knowledge. Collectively and collaboratively, Hasanah hopes to shift the needle of social and community reform for Malaysians, towards a better Malaysia. For further information, please visit yayasanhasanah.org