Mercedes-Benz founded Laureus together with Richemont to let as many kids and young adults as possible to profit from the possibilities of sports. The Laureus organization can look back on a 16-year success story.The worldwide organized Laureus Sport for Good Foundation uses the strength of sports in order to connect people around the world. Sports projects are created for kids to discover their own potential and detect a brighter future ahead. The Laureus World Sports Awards are honoring top performances of outstanding sportswomen and sportsmen. In this context the commitment and the success of the foundation is presented to a worldwide audience. Currently, more than 50 members of the World Sports Academy and over 150 Laureus Ambassadors are doing voluntary work for the foundation.

said Nelson Mandela at the very first Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000.

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation has to date collected donations worth 85 million euros and helped millions of needy children and young people. Laureus is currently supporting over 150 projects in 35 countries. National representations of the Laureus Foundation are active in such countries as Germany, South Africa and the USA, as well as in six other countries. 

One of the three pillars of Laureus is the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, the mission of which is to give new hope to socially disadvantaged or sick children and young people and to bring lasting change to their lives through sport. Children and young people around the world take part in Laureus sport projects, for the first time discovering their own strengths, their own potential.

Sport for Good projects also receive voluntary support from many stars, such as Luis Figo and Tony Hawk. They are part of the Laureus World Sports Academy, a unique group of active and former sportspeople. As Laureus ambassadors also Nico Rosberg and Pep Guardiola give their time to these worldwide projects in an effort to work with children and young people to address their problems.

Since October 2002, Waves for Change has taught surfing as a sport in the townships of Masiphumelele in Cape Town, with the aim of promoting responsibility and teamwork. The purpose of the project is to encourage young people to consciously confront them with their disease HIV. Spokespeople are trained and equipped with the necessary tools to bring sport back into their social environment. In a sporting context, they promote a responsible approach to the problems associated with the spread of the virus. Laureus Sport for Good South Africa supports 16 projects across the entire country and, by 2016, had improved the lives of over 90,000 young people.