Football has the ability to transform lives like few other things in the world. In Latin America, that transformative power is even greater. No wonder, great professional talent came out of poor communities in the region.

Mercado Livre, Latin America’s most popular marketplace, invested in improving the structure of community football fields to boost the sport’s transformative power at a moment when all emotions were on the 2022 World Cup.

And in that faulty infrastructure, one thing consistently stood out: the lack of nets on goals. Anyone who has played the game knows the unique feeling of seeing the ball hit the back of the net.

Mercado Livre's brand motto, "No matter where you are, we will get to you," was put into practice to assist these communities in telling new stories of overcoming obstacles, by delivering thousands of new goal nets to community fields.

Mercado Livre believes in the transformative power of football and, leveraging its progressive positioning and core business (delivery and capillarity of its logistics reaching hard-to-reach locations), invested in more than 600 football fields in Latin American communities that have one thing in common: lack of infrastructure.

Together with Mercado Livre, a network of acclaimed football players took nets and football kits to the fields and used their social networks to tell this story and give visibility to other stories of overcoming challenges found in different benefited fields.

The project also raised funds through the sale of items in a great partnership with Adidas within the Mercado Livre platform, resulting in significative donations to participating NGOs.

A goal happens when the ball hits the back of the net, and by contributing to the structure of these football fields, Mercado Livre boosts the transformative power of football.

Counting on the support of curators specialized in football from unprivileged communities spread across the continent, Mercado Livre improved the infrastructure of several fields by installing goal nets and donating football kits to locals. The action helped to boost football’s social transformative power, which is so alive in Latin America.

The campaign “The Net Effect” took advantage of the largest event – the 2022 World Cup – when Latin Americans have all their eyes on the sport, to show that no matter where you are, Mercado Livre will get to you. The mapping of fields allowed the campaign to drive inclusion, since the selected fields communities were located in diverse places, from the Amazon region and indigenous villages, to women-only community projects.

The strategy counted on big names from Latin America who helped bring more visibility to the initiative and to the excellent stories we were allowed to present.

Mercado Livre improved over 600 football fields in Latin America by donating goal nets, kits with balls and vests, besides a bigger renovation in some of them. The brand counted on a network of players who relate to the campaign, featuring Formiga (female Brazilian player with the most participation in World Cups and Olympics), Lugano, Recoba, Luis Hernández, Oribe Peralta and Diego Reyes. Creators and streamers, like Casimiro (who holds the record on Youtube of 7 million simultaneous viewers during the 2022 World Cup). It also featured:

• Film.

• Content on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

• Partnership with Adidas, which placed a store within Mercado Livre’s platform, and donated part of the sales to preselected NGOs.

• Reports aired on sports shows at the largest Brazilian TV channel and Samsung TV.

• Content platform telling the stories heard in the communities of overcoming racism and inequalities.

More than 1,200 goal nets donated in Latin America.

More than 600 football kits with balls and vests.

More than 600 fields benefited.

50+ thousand people benefited.

More than 400 million interactions.

75MM reach.

BRL 760,000 donated to sports NGOs

Diversity in the curation of the fields.

211 social projects,

63 fields in the Amazon,

23 indigenous villages

28 only-women projects.