Oakland, CA – September 22, 2010 – As they prepare to compete in the 2010 Women's Professional Soccer Championship Game in Hayward, CA on September 26, FC Gold Pride teammates Marta, who was just named WPS Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row, and Shannon Boxx, today, helped Visa officially launch its FIFA World Cup™ branded educational video game, Financial Soccer, in the Bay Area.
Today's event, which was held at Oakland's Fremont Federation of College Preparatory High Schools, is part of an ongoing Visa global financial literacy initiative.
Visa's Financial Soccer is a free, educational video game that combines the world's most popular sport with a high-quality financial literacy curriculum to create an innovative approach for helping children and adults learn about personal finance.
A FIFA Partner since 2007, Visa has rolled out Financial Soccer (known as Financial Football outside the U.S.) in 30 countries around the world. This multilingual game can be played in English, Spanish and 8 other languages at www.financialsoccer.com. Financial Soccer is part of Practical Money Skills for Life, Visa's free, award-winning, financial education program. Practical Money Skills for Life contains comprehensive money management resources and lesson plans tailored for use at home and in the classroom. The game is the latest component of Visa's longstanding commitment to financial literacy which has helped millions of people worldwide learn how to manage their money wisely.
"It is critical, especially in today's challenging economic environment, that everyone have access to the tools and resources they need to make informed financial decisions," said Jason Alderman, Sr. Director of Financial Education, Visa Inc.
"Preparing for your financial future is no different than preparing for a soccer game," said Marta, the FC Gold Pride Forward and four-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year. "You have to take the time to put together a winning plan and for money that includes knowing how to budget, save and invest it."
"It is very important to learn about personal finance at an early age," said FC Gold Pride Midfielder Boxx. "Fortunately, Financial Soccer provides today's students with the opportunity and tools to learn about the financial world in ways that were never available to me when I was younger."
Financial Soccer challenges players to answer fast-paced, multiple-choice money management questions correctly to advance down the field for a chance to score a goal. Financial Soccer offers single player and head-to-head game play options. This free game features three difficulty levels – geared to children, teens and adults – and has companion lesson modules for classroom use. Players learn key concepts about saving, responsible spending, budgeting and the wise use of credit.
Financial Soccer comes on the heels of Visa's other financial literacy video game, Financial Football, which was developed with the NFL and NFL PLAYERS. Financial Football, which was re-invented earlier this month, has been distributed by 27 state governments, including California, to every public high school in those states.
On Sunday, September 26, the FC Gold Pride will take on the winner of the WPS Super Semifinal for the 2010 WPS Championship Game to be held at California State University, East Bay in Hayward. The game begins at 11:30 am.
About Visa Inc.
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks – VisaNet – that is capable of handling more than 10,000 transactions a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa/our_business.html.
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