LocationsSports clubs: much more than a practice, spaces for connection and belonging
August 13, 2026
Authors: Maria Veronica Moreno, María Eugenia Lopez, Paola Bohorquez, Diego Borisonik, Emiliano Barbuto and Francisco Salas
Sports clubs represent a strategic opportunity to promote well-being, a sense of purpose, and belonging.
A club, a community
When we think of a club, the first things that probably come to mind are courts and fields, gyms, members, training sessions, friendly matches and tournaments. We may then think about the physical health benefits associated with sports, such as the prevention of cardiovascular diseases or stress reduction. We are also likely to think about how sports help develop socio-emotional skills during childhood and adolescence, such as managing frustration, respecting the rules of the game and working as part of a team.
However, clubs are also places where opportunities are created for people to meet, share experiences and build stable routines that structure everyday life. In this way, they create the conditions for meaningful relationships to eventually develop. The truth is that relationships often do not emerge spontaneously; they need spaces where people can meet repeatedly. A regular rhythm — whether shaped by weekly training sessions or accompanying children to their activities — creates familiarity and makes us more likely to develop affection for others¹.
In this sense, clubs, as an essential part of community infrastructure, create the conditions that make relationships possible. Through their spaces, activities, routines and communities of members, they promote not only encounters between people, but also something deeper and more lasting: a sense of belonging. A community whose identity is reflected in its colors, its jersey and the values promoted by the institution, and, above all, in a network where we can feel that we are part of something larger than ourselves and that we have networks of mutual support. These are not minor matters. In a world where the silent epidemic of unwanted loneliness is growing and primarily affecting young people, clubs can also be seen as factories of closeness.
Playing football, basketball or skating not only gives us the gratification of doing something we enjoy; it also creates opportunities to share with others, meet in a common place and build relationships. And although we sometimes forget it, we are social animals who need others; a deeply gregarious species whose well-being is tied to the quality of our relationships. In fact, this is the central finding of the longest-running study on happiness — more than eighty years of research — conducted by Harvard University. Warm and secure relationships are, without a doubt, the strongest and most universal predictor of a good life. They also help keep us healthier, protect us from chronic stress and contribute to longer lives².
UNDP facilitated a foresight workshop to collaboratively anticipate, explore, and shape possible, probable, or desirable futures.
Iceland: the country that changed the question and behaviours
In the late 1990s, Iceland had very high rates of alcohol consumption among adolescents and young people. To address this complex problem — involving parents, educational communities, civil society organizations, governments and others — instead of asking how to reduce alcohol consumption among this population group, they began to ask what kind of life they wanted to offer young people.
The strategy was built around positive messages: it was not only about saying “no” to alcohol, but also about saying “yes” to a life with more opportunities to enjoy themselves, spend time with their families, participate in their communities and have rewarding experiences.
This approach placed relationships at the centre. The strategy sought to promote time shared between parents and children, the participation of schools, municipalities and community organizations, and an expansion of extracurricular activities. The goal went beyond simply keeping young people occupied during their free time; it aimed to create environments where they could feel supported, connected and part of a community.
How did they change behaviours and encourage new habits? Organized sports and outdoor activities played a central role. Iceland expanded access to clubs and recreational activities, particularly during afternoons and weekends, offering attractive alternatives. In this way, young people associated participation in sports clubs with opportunities to build relationships and have meaningful and memorable experiences, without the need to turn to alcohol.
This approach began by understanding the concerns and habits of the population through a mapping process carried out every two years, involving all schools across the country, which subsequently receive aggregated data from their district. Based on the identification of risk and protective factors, interventions are designed at different points through a systemic and adaptive approach. A lesson that the world has taken note of.
The workshop began with an exercise inviting participants to reflect on how they envision the future and their ability to influence it.
First Division Clubs’ Foundations and Social Areas: a networked future
In a context marked by the growing difficulty of building meaningful and lasting relationships, clubs represent a strategic opportunity to promote well-being, a sense of purpose and belonging. They also have an extraordinary advantage: they already exist. They are present in neighbourhoods and across the country, they are a central part of the lives of countless people from different generations, they have the ability to encourage others to join them, and they already have ties with a wide range of social actors, from grassroots organizations to governments and businesses.
As part of the First Meeting of Foundations and Social Areas of First Division Clubs, UNDP facilitated a foresight workshop to anticipate, explore and collaboratively build possible, probable and desirable futures. The workshop began with an exercise that invited participants to reflect on how they envision the future and on their ability to influence it. It was striking that most participants approached both questions with optimism and highlighted the importance of coordinated action to strengthen their capacities, expand their impact and contribute more effectively to the development of their communities.
This collaborative process made it possible to transform these ideas into a shared roadmap: if clubs are already spaces capable of fostering encounters, relationships and a sense of belonging, connecting them through a network can multiply and extend this potential to new communities. As Iceland’s experience shows, building healthier and more connected futures requires expanding opportunities for participation, strengthening protective environments and working consistently across multiple stakeholders.
Imagining the Network collectively in 2030 and retracing the path needed to make it possible was a first step towards turning a shared vision into concrete agreements and actions. Therefore, harnessing the presence, identity and convening power of clubs to build from today is a way of creating a future with more connected communities.
¹Idea based on the mere-exposure effect developed by Robert Zajonc
²Waldinger, Robert y Marc Schulz, The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness. Nueva York: Simon & Schuster, 2023.
