Team

Mano Silva

Football was Mano’s ticket to a higher education in the United States, where he earned a B.A. in Business Administration and a Masters Degree, with emphasis on International Development. Before love.fútbol, he coordinated Development through Sport programs from the Sahara Desert of Niger to the tropical forests of Haiti. Mano has accumulated 14 years of experience in the sports for development sector, leading projects in 12 different countries throughout the Americas, Caribbean and Africa.

Karina Paz

Karina is a social entrepreneur and creator of the Pazear Movement, which uses sport as a tool for social transformation. She coordinates projects such as Escolinha Social de Futebol, which serves 120 students, the As Jogadeiras de Olinda Project, which uses football to empower girls and women, and the Rio Doce community network, which manages the community’s football pitch, built in partnership with love.fútbol and that has become a social platform for development and leisure.

Emilio Martinez

Emilio is a Project Manager based in Mexico. He is passionate about community empowerment and has been working with NGOs since 2000. He has experience in a variety of social organizations and also works as a professor of social and educational subjects in several Mexican universities. love.fútbol's mission resonates deeply with Emilio. He is convinced that every new pitch offers real chances for positive change in communities and offers the potential to positively shape the trajectory of young people’s growth.

Vitória Santos

Vitória is a Black woman, social educator, and activist for racial causes. She recognizes herself as an African woman in the Brazilian diaspora. Leading a Black collective in the community where she grew up, she carries out racial awareness work with children and young people. She considers her work an ancestral legacy and a “pact” for the survival of her body and ancestral culture. She encountered love.fútbol during the community mobilization process at one of the organization's projects in Brazil. Today she is Director of the partner NGO where the project was carried out.Her community leadership role reflects her commitment and involvement with love.fútbol's work and the communities we work in. In addition, she is a born sports fan, and she loves to celebrate collective achievements.

Breno Lacet

Breno first remembers being amazed by football's incredible potential to mobilize people during the 2002 World Cup. Witnessing the festive atmosphere made up of green and yellow shirts in the streets of Brazil made him realize that football was more than just a game — it was about passion and community. He studied in Montevideo, Uruguay, holds a degree in Political Science and Marketing in Montevideo, Uruguay. Breno has been a part of the love.fútbol team since 2012, coordinating our efforts in fundraising and institutional development.

Fabiane Cavalcante

Enchanted by cultural processes and passionate about human nature, Bia was pleased to have the opportunity to experience the love.fútbol methodology. She is a Black woman from the outskirts of town, has worked with NGOs since she was 13 years old, and currently works as a social psychologist. She strongly believes in the transformative potential of community mobilizations and creating connections between people. For Bia, each project acts as a portal of possibility for social empowerment, rescuing local culture and promoting humanitarian development. Being part of this team is a symbol of hope, social responsibility, love, and a lot of pride.

Sandra Machuca

With experience in international cooperation with global organizations, foreign governments, and civil society. Sandra is passionate about cultural diversity and optimistic that we can make the world a better place through social initiatives aimed at kids and youth to create an impact on future generations. Recently she has been supporting and working on gender projects mainly focused on empowering women through developing their creativity in arts, writing, and literature. She considers herself as an activist for women's causes.

She enjoys being part of a team that works with communities to undergo the process together.

Sean Ndebele

Sean has diverse experience serving in various roles in sport for development. As a multifaceted sport impact professional, Sean has helped lead elite organizations in developing and executing a wide range of functions such as: non-profit management, community and public relations, fundraising, operations and administration, and marketing. Sean is a fervent proponent of the power of sport and has a demonstrated history of intersecting sport and philanthropy to leverage it as a social impact tool. He has been able to combine his passion for sport and charity to conduct initiatives that support altruistic causes.