Cape Town - The Beyond Sport Summit and Awards, the largest and most influential global gathering in the field of sport and development, officially opened on Monday here.

Over a four-day period this week, Beyond Sport will welcome some of the most influential and forward-thinking global figures from the worlds of sport, business, politics and philanthropy to Cape Town.

Ahead of the official opening of the Summit at 16:00 on Monday, delegates took part in Beyond Football, a one-day special event focused on the role the world’s most popular game can play in social change.

Beyond Football was organised by Beyond Sport and streetfootballworld, with the support of adidas and Impact International.

Former Bafana Bafana captain Lucas Radebe was amongst those to celebrate and explore the impact football can have on communities around the world, joined by other players and leaders from the world of football and beyond.

Throughout the week, the likes of Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Olympic legend Michael Johnson; and Lord Paddy Ashdown, the chairman of UNICEF, will play key roles in the Beyond Sport Summit, where they will join many high-profile names from the Summit’s host country, including Minister of Sport Fikile Mbalula, Springbok star Bryan Habana, FIFA World Cup 2010 CEO Danny Jordaan, Mmakau Mining chairperson Bridgette Radebe, and Paralympic champions Natalie Du Toit and Oscar Pistorius.

International companies and organisations including FIFA, the NBA, the NHL, NASCAR, the Australian Football League, the Qatar Foundation, SportAccord, PricewaterhouseCoopers, StubHub, Sony, Canterbury, Virgin Atlantic, Populous and many more have also gathered in Cape Town for one of the highest-profile international sport and business gatherings in South Africa’s history.

Beyond Sport founder Nick Keller said: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome the world of sport and development to Cape Town. As this city and country follows in the footsteps of London and Chicago as host of this unique event, I am delighted to see so many influential figures from sport, business, government and beyond gather to share their experience and expertise and explore their own part in this unique movement.”

Wednesday and Thursday will see the winners of the Beyond Sport Awards 2011 announced. Thirty-five projects have been shortlisted, covering 18 countries and 22 different sports. They were chosen from close to 400 entries from more than 125 countries that submitted applications to this year’s Awards. The Beyond Sport Award winners will receive a substantial package of business support to help them grow and become sustainable in the future.

Beyond Sport is a global initiative that seeks to celebrate and support any organisation or individual with the goal to drive positive social change through sport. Its global partners are Barclays Spaces for Sports, TIME Inc and UNICEF.