Free and Safe Indonesia Attempts to Break GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS for The Longest Marathon Playing Futsal with “Stop Human Trafficking” Theme

On April 26-29, 2024, at the Gymnasium UPI, Free and Safe Indonesia attempted to break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS for the longest marathon playing futsal (indoor soccer). The event, themed “Stop Human Trafficking,” aims to raise awareness and mobilize action against human trafficking, with participants playing non-stop for 60 hours.

There are an estimated 1,833,000 Indonesians enslaved today (as of April 2024). According to the Trafficking in Persons report, there were an estimated 70,000 – 80,000 children being sold for sex throughout all 34 Indonesian provinces in 2020, but local advocates believe the number is likely much higher.

Doing nothing is not an option.

We want people, especially the Indonesian community, to be aware that this is happening around us by holding this major event.

About the previous record…

As a note, the previous record for the longest futsal marathon in the world was held by Fundacja Kasi Dulnik from Poland in Warsaw on December 9, 2018. The current world record for the longest futsal game according to the Guinness World Record is 51 hours, 3 minutes, 22 seconds.

Press Conference

The press conference where Jorge was able to share about FSI goals on fighting human trafficking. Seated beside him is the president of the University of Education (UPI) where the event was held. This university has over 60,000 students. FSI will be sharing the curriculum with the students.

What about the Event?

Over 3,000 people attended the opening ceremony and around 5,000 people attended during the three days of the event.

The event opened with a grand performance by around 200 performers from the UPI cultural team. With invitations to important individuals who delivered speeches before the event started. 24 players were present to carry out the official attempt for the 60-hour non-stop futsal marathon. And the event started with the first kick-off by Jorge Marquez, founder & CEO of Free and Safe Indonesia, and the UPI Rector.

Day by day, the initially enthusiastic players began to lose energy. They were not able to shower or leave the court or bench area for the entire time. With the help of a medical team that was always on standby on the field to provide the best care for the players. Fatigue from playing futsal and only 3 hours of sleep per player change, but we are more concerned when thinking about the more severe suffering experienced by human trafficking victims forced to work tirelessly, so we must not give up. No rest for the victims = no rest for the players.

During those 4 days, there were spectators who came to watch, and there were also friends and family who dropped by to offer encouragement to not give up. And yes, it was a struggle that was not in vain because in the end, we successfully set the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS Marathon playing futsal 60 hours non-stop on April 29, 2024!! The final score was 1225 for the white team and 949 goals for the blue team.

Kazu, as the representative of GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS, announced the success of Free and Safe Indonesia by awarding Jorge Marquez. Laughter and tears mingled in the celebration. Jorge also expressed many thanks to everyone involved in the event and for their support, especially to his wife Caron and his beloved children Isabel, Susana, and Lucas who witnessed their father’s struggle.

Kazu expressed that he was touched by what Jorge and FSIF are trying to do to create a better world starting from Indonesia. FSIF has done their best with all the limitations they have, and their struggle truly comes from the heart.

By holding the official attempt GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS, we hope that the public’s attention will not only be on this event, but also on our main goal, which is to STOP HUMAN TRAFFICKING.

During the event, we received national coverage from TV, newspapers, and social media, reaching millions of people who saw that Free and Safe will start fighting Human Trafficking in Indonesia. Thanks to this event, we have already had the opportunity to share, prevent, and do something about this issue. Indonesia has over 1,800,000 people trafficked, and doing nothing is not an option. That’s why by breaking the GWR, we hoped that doors would be opened, and they were! Starting in August, we will go to the largest Islamic boarding school in Indonesia with over 6,500 students, to share what is human trafficking, how Indonesians are being trafficked, and how we all can prevent it.

This event was challenging to prepare and took us over a year to put together, but thanks to your prayers and support, now doors are open to go to schools and universities to start planting seeds of Truth and build relationships.