FABIAN Wilnis has enjoyed every minute of his career in football - now he wants to put something back into the community that has supported him so well.

The Dutchman is going to set up the FAB Foundation that aims to inspire other professional footballers to help make a difference. The Foundation will be a vehicle for players to give something back to local communities.

The idea is that professional footballers become monthly donors, giving as little as £10 or whatever they can miss on monthly basis. Fab off course hopes it will be a large donation!

Wilnis said: "Rather than writing a cheque to a charity, I want to start something to give professional footballers a vehicle to make a difference in other peoples’ lives.

"At some point they will have met someone or done something that changed their lives forever.

"I hope they can be good role models to achieve the same in other peoples’ lives."

As Wilnis knows from his own experiences, professional footballers have a very busy lifestyle and to be able to perform at the highest-level means being fully focused. That means hardly any time to get involved in charities, unless they have got a PA or (marketing) agent to do it for them.

"With the Foundation, I hope to sow a seed to make footballers aware that ‘contribution’ is possible without losing that focus and to show them they can make a difference," added Wilnis.

"I hope they will feel this is something of their own and they will have a say in what kind of charities the Foundation will support."

The FAB Foundation is going to support existing charities to support local communities all over UK.

It will work together with the Suffolk Foundation and the Community Foundation Network

In the future, the Foundation hope to organise an annual charity football match, with the footballing donors in Ipswich.

Or it may be that players’ wives and girlfriends get involved by donating handbags and auctioning them off to raise funds.



Fabian & David Sheepshanks as the FAB10 Committee donated £1,000 to the ITFC Community Trust raised from calendar sales during November & December 2008. Thank you to everyone who purchased Fab's calendar and for your continued support. Fabian is now launching his FAB Fund which will continue to support local charities mainly focused on Children, including ITFC Community Trust.



Fabian has been sponsoring a child through World Vision UK since 2006. Her name is Daba, aged 6 and she lives in Senegal.

From the beginning there has been frequent correspondence and Daba told him about the improvements for her, her family and her village since World Vision involvement in their community. Fabian would like more people to sponsor a child and help another family somewhere in the world.