Panaji: Kennedy D’Silva, director of the Karuna Football Foundation, has been honoured with the Asian Excellence Award 2026 under the category “Humanitarian Excellence through Sports.” The award, organised by Oberon Production, recognises his outstanding dedication and impactful contributions using sport as a means of humanitarian service and community transformation.The award acknowledges D’Silva’s sustained work through the Afro Asia Compassion Football initiative, which uses football to promote inclusion, compassion, community development and opportunities for young people.The initiative has made a particular impact on 70 coaches through programmes conducted in East Africa, particularly at BidiBidi refugee settlement in Uganda, where they were trained with football skill sets to be used along with life skills coaching. These coaches have now set over 40 small community teams from the refugee camp and run a football league round the year.D’Silva was formerly director of sports at the Goa University and was a founder and head of the department of physical education and sports sciences at the Don Bosco College at Panaji in Goa.He has been involved in the organisation of several national sports events and was also the man behind conceptualizing the Unity World Cup football championship in 2014.In recent times, D’Silva has started working in the Philippines, where efforts have begun in bringing together sport and humanitarian action to reach some of the underprivileged and marginalised communities.Humanitarian efforts have also extended to Wayanad in Kerala, particularly following the devastating landslides.The Asian Excellence Award highlights the belief that football can be much more than a sport; it can be a powerful platform for healing, inclusion, friendship and social transformation. His work through the Karuna Football Foundation continues to demonstrate how compassion and sport can come together to create meaningful change across communities and borders.D’Silva acknowledged the support of team members, including Milton Fernandes, Ishan Gaikwad, Victor Vaz (Special Olympics- Bharat Goa), Gifton Prince from Wayanad and his own family members and benefactors of the Karuna Football Foundation.
