WADA celebrates 49% increase in social media engagement for Play True Day 2025

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is proud to share the results of its 2025 Play True Day campaign, which ran from 10 March – 11 April and generated a 49% increase in social media engagement under the theme: “Play True: It Starts with You.” 

Play True Day stems from a WADA-hosted Education Conference in 2013 that was attended by 17 Latin American countries and now has grown to be the largest digital campaign engaging athletes and the anti-doping community in promoting the importance of clean sport.  

WADA President Witold Bańka said: “Over the years, our Play True Day campaign has grown exponentially thanks to the momentum of the whole clean sport community.  This year’s theme – Play True: It Starts with You -- reaffirmed that, to achieve our global collaborative movement for doping-free sport, we need everyone’s contribution. Thank you to all who participated in the campaign – for the more than 386,000 engagements that demonstrated individual commitment as part of One Team.” 

WADA made a few key changes to this year’s Play True campaign that it believes were instrumental to its success.  First, the campaign’s focus was shifted from the collective “we” to the individual “you”; which seems to have encouraged more people to demonstrate their individual commitment to protecting the integrity of sport. Second, WADA introduced a Play True Challenge as part of the campaign, which was a 30-second fitness-based challenge, which ran for a month before Play True Day itself on 11 April, that called attention to the effort and dedication of athletes and the importance of fair play.  

Mariam Diaby, WADA’s Head of Digital Marketing said: “With participation from around the world, the Play True Challenge helped bring the campaign to life in a tangible and engaging way and the response was remarkable. This year’s record engagement shows the impact of meeting people where they are, with a message that is personal, empowering, and easy to act on. It turned values into action and brought the anti-doping community together with a fun and meaningful activity.” 

Play True Day in Numbers 

• Participation by more than 100 countries with contributions from athletes, International Federations, Major Event Organizations, National and Regional Anti-Doping Organizations and more.  
• A 49% increase in social media engagement compared to the previous year, with more than 386,000 interactions across platforms – including a 206% surge in athlete engagement.  
• Potential social media reach achieved 144.6 million, while potential traditional media reach soared by 244% to 205.8 million. 

Join us for Play True Day 2026 

We take this opportunity to invite stakeholders to “Save the Date” for Play True Day 2026, which will be celebrated on 18 April 2026. We look forward to building on this year’s momentum to ensure that the movement continues to grow.  Because clean sport doesn’t just happen. It starts with you.