Launched in 2009, the Champions for Peace club provides athletes with a structure for action, so that the impact of their commitment to peace through sports projects reaches the widest possible audience.

Their combined action and their determination helps to demonstrate that sport can be more than performance alone and play a genuine role to serve society.

“Athletes are the best ambassadors to convey sport’s culture and values," said Joël Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport. 

"The Champions for Peace club distinguishes these exceptional champions, who rally around a common goal of peace building.

"We are proud to encourage these athletes who commit themselves daily to the cause of peace through sport." 

The notable new champions include Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Brazil. 

Despite not winning any World Championship titles, Massa has won 11 races throughout a career spanning 15 seasons prior to his retirement this year.

Professional squash player Maria Toorpakai of Pakistan has also joined the club.

She comes from a region of the world where girls are not allowed to practice sport and was forced to disguise herself as a boy for the first 16 years of her life to play competitive sport.

Toorpakai defends the rights of women in Pakistan and has set up a foundation encouraging families to educate girls and allow them to play sport.

Algerian athlete Nouria Benida-Merah has also been made a champion for peace.

The Olympic Champion in the 1,500 metres at Sydney 2000, Benida-Merah is committed to helping women in her country and is part of the Algerian National Olympic Committee. 

France's Marlene Harnois, the London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist in taekwondo, was another new member of the club.

Since the end of her career Harnois has worked to promote the values of sport and education, particularly in West Africa.

She supports young people practicing taekwondo in the Ivory Coast, two of which were recent medallists in the Rio Olympics.

Cheick Sallah Cissé won gold in the men's 80 kilogram event while Ruth Gbagbi took bronze in the women's 67kg division.

Other new members include Aya Medany, who was the first female Egyptian world champion in modern pentathlon.

Angel Rodriguez was the Spanish national record holder of the 100m and 200m and he aims to mobilise athletes in his country through solidarity projects.

Muriel Hurtis, the women's 4×100m relay champion at Athens 2004, has also joined the club and is committed to advance the movement of peace through sport.

She recently delivered inspirational messages to young participants during the first “Peace and Sport Workshops” in the outskirts of Paris.

London 2012 Olympic Champion in steeplechase, Habiba Ghribi, has also joined the movement.

Pascal Gentil, the double Olympic medallist at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, is a former captain of the French Taekwondo team while Hugo Bonneval played for the French national rugby team on eight occasions and is keen to participate in projects directed towards youth.

Jean-Baptiste Alaize of France is the final new member of the club.

In 2016, he participated in his second Paralympic Games and came fifth in the long jump. 

These 11 new Champions for Peace have added their commitment to a prestigious group of more than 90 athletes from 45 countries who are personally involved with Peace and Sport.

They include, Novak Djokovic, Chris Froome, Paula Radcliffe, Sergey Bubka and Sébastien Loeb.