{"id":334,"date":"2026-02-27T20:59:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T20:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/?p=334"},"modified":"2026-02-27T20:59:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T20:59:58","slug":"arsenal-family-come-together-for-a-night-to-belong-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/?p=334","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal family come together for a Night to Belong | News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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More than 250 guests gathered at Emirates Stadium on Thursday evening for Night to Belong<\/em>The Arsenal Foundation\u2019s flagship fundraising dinner supporting the club\u2019s impact locally and globally. <\/p>\n

Returning after a seven-year hiatus, the event marked a significant moment for The Arsenal Foundation – reaffirming its role at the heart of the club\u2019s wider purpose and raising vital funds to support programmes in north London and beyond. <\/p>\n

The evening brought together players from both squads, club legends, senior leaders, and a host of special guests to support the club\u2019s action in its communities. <\/p>\n

Men\u2019s captain Martin \u00d8degaard and women\u2019s captain Kim Little joined Mikel Arteta and Ren\u00e9e Slegers on stage to open the evening and reflected on the responsibility of the club to its communities around the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you wear this badge, you feel the history and the responsibility that comes with it,\u201d Martin \u00d8degaard <\/strong>said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes this club special is the connection between the team, our supporters, and our community. We are building something together, and that unity gives us energy every day\u201d. <\/p>\n

Kim Little added<\/strong> \u201cthis club feels like home because of our standards and our community. We all feel the power we have to help each other. You see generations come through and you understand that it\u2019s your responsibility to leave it better for those who follow. It has always been about more than football.\u201d <\/p>\n

Those funds support programmes that engage more than 6,000 people locally each week, creating safe spaces, providing access to trusted role models and opening pathways into education, employment and wellbeing support. <\/p>\n

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\n Night to Belong 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n

They also support global initiatives such as Coaching for Life<\/em>delivered in partnership with Save the Children in Za\u2019atari refugee camp in Jordan. The programme uses structured football sessions to help young people displaced by conflict build communication skills, emotional resilience and confidence in a safe and supportive environment. <\/p>\n

Since its launch, more than 6,000 young people have graduated from Coaching for Life, with equal numbers of girls and boys now participating in every programme cycle. <\/p>\n

Freddie Hudson, Arsenal\u2019s Director of Community<\/strong>said: \u201cThe special power we have is the pride and deep connection people feel towards Arsenal. Our responsibility is to extend that same sense of belonging to those who may not experience it so easily in their own lives. For nearly 40 years we have worked consistently in our communities – investing in safe spaces, building trusted relationships and creating pathways into opportunity. That trust and consistency \u2013 enabled by funding from The Arsenal Foundation \u2013 is what enables us to make a positive impact on people\u2019s lives, whether that\u2019s here in north London or around the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mairead King, Director of The Arsenal Foundation<\/strong>said: \u201cOur goal is to create a sense of belonging in our communities. Nights like tonight help us achieve that mission, enabling us to fund programmes that create safe spaces and opportunities. From Islington to some of the toughest environments around the world, our approach and support remain consistent. We are proud to work alongside partners close to the heart of this club to deliver that impact.\u201d <\/p>\n

We are proud to work alongside so many partners close to the heart of this club to help deliver this \u2013 including Save the Children on our international work and the Willow Foundation and Islington Giving locally.\u201d <\/p>\n

Night to Belong also highlighted the Foundation\u2019s partnerships with Save the Children, Willow Foundation and Islington Giving. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 250 guests gathered at Emirates Stadium on Thursday evening for Night to BelongThe Arsenal Foundation\u2019s flagship fundraising dinner supporting the club\u2019s impact locally and globally. Returning after a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}