Sport dans la Ville was founded in March 1998 in Lyon (France) with the goal of creating a sports activities program that could be used to help underprivileged children who live in difficult neighborhoods.

The program uses sports as a means to encourage young people to avoid antisocial behavior, teaching them the importance of teamwork, leadership and social integration. Around 2000 children are currently involved.

Sports and activities offered include soccer and basketball while two long summer camps and one winter camp take place each year involving 130 children. An international exchange program also operates every summer involving 25 children and is run in conjunction with similar charities in Brazil (Gol de Letra) and the USA (Harlem RBI).

The successes are evident, not only in terms of number of participants, but also through the visible changes in the attitude and behavior of children involved in the project.

In order to enable youth, aging from 14 to 20 years old, to find a job, Sport dans la Ville has also developed an innovative training program with a group of 20 corporate sponsors.
In 2009, 150 youth will benefit from this job-searching program.

Sport dans la Ville is the largest not-for-profit sports organization in France.