Thirty-two 'Friendship Benches' representing the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022's competing nations are being installed in prominent locations around Qatar to promote mental wellbeing.
In conjunction with World Mental Health Day, a selection of the first benches was presented at Stadium 974 in Doha. Earlier, the bench initiative was symbolically inaugurated with the preview of the England bench at Qatar Foundation’s global health event, the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), in the lead-up a larger reveal of the benches on World Mental Health Day, FIFA said in a statement.
In conjunction with World Mental Health Day, a selection of the first benches was presented at Stadium 974 in Doha. Earlier, the bench initiative was symbolically inaugurated with the preview of the England bench at Qatar Foundation’s global health event, the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), in the lead-up a larger reveal of the benches on World Mental Health Day, FIFA said in a statement.
The project is part of the Sport for Health partnership, led by the World Health Organisation and Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). The benches initiative is supported by FIFA, the SC, WISH, the Friendship Benches NGO and the WHO Universal Health Coverage Partnership.
The goal of the initiative is to demonstrate the importance of mental health and offer advice on ways to promote mental well-being, including through the importance of physical activity and sport.
English athlete Sir Mo Farah, whose 10 Olympic and World Championship gold medals make him the most successful male track distance runner ever, had inaugurated the England bench, where he was joined by HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, Vice-Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation, for a conversation about sport and mental health – a symbolic recognition of the initiative.