Inside Brazil and Lazio midfielder Felipe Anderson’s academy in Angola

The South American financed the construction of a soccer field and changing room to boost the activities of underprivileged children

Brazil and Lazio midfielder Felipe Anderson has financed the construction of a football field, the entire structure of the changing room and accommodation in Angola.

Through a collaboration with ATOS, a non-governmental organisation of a humanitarian nature based in Luanda, Anderson offered support to help create the sports arm of the NGO and it now has a new face thanks to him.

ATOS has an orphanage, an educational centre and several other projects that generate better living conditions and opportunities for thousands of Angolan children. They wanted to include co-curricular activities into their initiative, a move that appealed to the Brazilian.

“As soon as I found out about the work carried out by ATOS in Luanda, I was very interested in being able to help,” said Anderson about the initiative.

He added: “I am very happy for all that the construction of this football field will make possible for several Angolan children. I started playing football through an NGO, I see myself as a living example of the power that this type of initiative has to transform lives, so it is a pleasure, not only for me, but for my whole family, to contribute whenever possible with actions like this, as we already do in Brazil.”

Anderson is no stranger to supporting social projects. He has remained engaged in a number of projects in Brazil especially the “Sociedade Esportiva Kandango”, in Brasilia which helps him ‘go back to the past’ by helping remember how he took his first steps in football before arriving at Coritiba.

Currently, the player assists the children who participate in the project by donating sports equipment.

“Whenever I can, I come to my city to see my friends and also the children of the project. It’s a way to encourage them even more and show that sport can transform lives, as it did mine. Not everyone will become athletes, but the important thing is that they are good citizens,” said the player.

Anderson returned to Lazio last summer after three seasons with West Ham and scored seven goals while providing eight assists, a far cry from his days with the Hammers where he managed 12 goals in 72 games.

The Former Santos player had spent five successful seasons with the Rome-based side before switching to the London Stadium.