Catholic Mission has launched its 2026 Socktober campaign, inviting students across Australia to design the program’s next official sockball while helping raise awareness and support for children in Malawi.
The national challenge coincides with the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday and encourages schools, students and youth groups to create a sockball from recycled materials.
The winning design will become the official Socktober sockball used in future campaigns. Adrienne Williams, Catholic Mission’s Director of Community Engagement, said the competition gives young people an opportunity to make the program their own.
“Schools are already embracing Socktober and the national sockball challenge has added a real sense of excitement,” she said.
“It gives students a creative and practical way to make the program their own.”
Williams said inviting students to create the next official sockball fostered “a genuine sense of ownership” while reflecting the creativity, teamwork and hope at the heart of the initiative.
Socktober uses soccer as a way of engaging students with Catholic Social Teaching and encouraging them to put their faith into action through education, fundraising and solidarity with communities experiencing hardship.
This year’s campaign focuses on Malawi, where many children continue to face challenges accessing education, nutritious food and safe living conditions following devastating floods that displaced communities.
Through classroom resources, liturgical materials and fundraising activities, students will learn about these challenges while exploring practical ways to respond with compassion and hope.
Catholic Mission said the campaign also reflects Pope Leo XIV’s June prayer intention, which described sport as “a universal language that brings cultures together, unites peoples, and sows respect, solidarity and personal growth.”
Diocesan launch events will begin in the Archdiocese of Brisbane on 10 August before rolling out across Australia. Maria Sole, Catholic Mission’s Schools Engagement Coordinator for Queensland, said the launch would bring local schools together to begin the new campaign.
“We are excited to be the first diocese to kick off the 2026 Socktober season,” she said.
“Every year, students embrace the opportunity to make a meaningful difference, and we can’t wait to see the energy and enthusiasm they bring to Socktober this year.”
Schools, students and youth groups can register for Socktober 2026 and the national sockball challenge through Catholic Mission’s Socktober website. Catholic Mission is the Australian arm of the Pontifical Mission Societies, the Catholic Church’s global missionary network.
It supports Church-run projects across Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America, funding initiatives in education, healthcare, pastoral care, sanitation and agriculture while encouraging Australian Catholics to pray, advocate and act in solidarity with communities on the margins.
