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| Special Olympics players who participated in the final in Baku. Photographer: Krzysztof Krukowski, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia |
Special Olympics Azerbaijan kicked off Football Week with four regional mini-tournaments that involved 120 Special Olympics players from 10-22 April. From 23-30 April, 14 teams participated in a final tournament held at the Republican Stadium in Baku. Representatives from the ministries of youth, sport, tourism and social protection; the Azerbaijan Football Association; National Olympic Committee; and the Academy of Physical Culture attended. Other important guests included veteran players from FK Neftchi, bronze medalists during the 1966 USSR championships. Special Olympics players were thrilled to meet the famous players who signed autographs and gave them gifts. All guests received certificates commemorating the 15th anniversary of Special Olympics Azerbaijan. As a prelude to Football Week, Special Olympics Azerbaijan signed a declaration of support with the National Olympic Academy.
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| Rena Dzaforova holds a protective arm around younger brother Rufat. Photographer: Krzysztof Krukowski, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia |
Rena Dzaforova, 15, is a student at Special School No. 3 in Baku. Six years ago she lost her mother. Since then, she has run the household comprised of her father, who works for the city, an older brother and her younger brother, Rufat, who she is particularly close to and is also a Special Olympics player. "I don't know what their house would look like without Rena," said Diana Kuzereva, her coach and teacher. Five years ago she started to play football at school. She trains every day, plays on an all-male team and hopes to become a member of the national team — the men's team — since there is no national women's team. Dzaforova can definitely hold her own on the pitch and is a natural team leader. She was the only female player during Football Week activities in Azerbaijan and was awarded Best Player at the Baku final.
Special Olympics Croatia organizes day dedicated to football
Sixteen teams, including two female teams, from throughout Croatia competed in a day dedicated to football (soccer) on 29 April 2005. The event was held at Maksimir Park in Zagreb. Miroslav Blazevic, owner of the park, was the main sponsor.
The University of Kinesiology in Zagreb continued its support of Football Week with students participating as partners on Unified Sports teams. One student, Simona Markovic, who will be receiving her professorship soon, will join Special Olympics as the main female football coach. Other students and former professional football players were also involved in the day. One of the highlights was a visit by Cico Kranjcar, Croatian national team selector and former player. The sport newspaper "Sportske novosti" reported on the event.
This year's football day came hot on the heels of post-World Winter Games activity, which included a visit by Special Olympics Croatia to meet Zlatko Matesa, President of the Croatian Olympic Committee. In June, five representatives from the Host Town program in Yamanashi, Japan, will be visiting Croatia. Hopefully, there will be some football action in the plans being drawn up by Special Olympics Croatia athletes for their visitors.
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| Spectators watch as Special Olympics players show their skill. Photo courtesy of Special Olympics Italy |
Special Olympics Italy celebrated Football Week with at least 1,000 young people without disabilities getting involved in football activities throughout the country. All of them had completed the Special Olympics Get Into It (SO Get Into It™) curriculum. They and 240 Special Olympics footballers were brought together for sports and social activities that all had a football theme. The SO Get Into It initiative was on top of what has become a tradition in Italy: the involvement of top professional Serie A and Serie B clubs. These clubs have a highly cooperative relationship with Special Olympics Italy and a wide range of activities are organized each year that illustrate the support of the Italian football world for Special Olympics players. These events are strongly supported by the Italian Football Association and the Football League.
One event that highlights the affection the Italian footballers have for Special Olympics was held on 29 April in Rome, when longtime supporter Francesco Totti and other big-name players from AS Roma met with Special Olympics athletes. Paolo Pollak, President of Rome's XII Municipality, who organized the encounter, said: "Once again, Totti and his colleagues have shown that they are sensitive to social issues. Special Olympics represents an important reality in our society and I want to thank Totti and Roma for their support."
Professional players come out in force to support Special Olympics Luxembourg
On April 23-24, First Division clubs FC Alliance 01 Luxembourg, CS Petange, F91 Dudelange, As Jeunesse Esch, FC Swift Hesperange and FC Victoria Rosport and Second Division clubs RM Hamm and UN97 Kaerjeng warmed up before matches wearing Special Olympics T-shirts.
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| Former world-class players get together to support Special Olympics Luxembourg. Photographer: Gerard Leeninga, Special Olympics Luxembourg |
On 28 April, Special Olympics Luxembourg organized a gala game between the Lotto-Elf team from Germany and the Special Olympics All-Friends team. Lotto-Elf was led by Wolfgang Overath, a world champion player, and his team was made up of 20 German former world-class football players like Uwe Bein, Stefan Engels, Wolfgang Zimmermann, Horst Eckel, Edgar Schmitt and Wolfgang Kleff. The Special Olympics All-Friends team was composed of former Luxembourg National Team players such as Nico Braun, Roby Langers and Carlo Weis, and was coached by Paul Phillip, President, Luxembourg Football Federation. The money raised from these events will help to develop Special Olympics Luxembourg football. Before the game, an 11-a-side Special Olympics Luxembourg football team played a game against the local youth team of UN97 Kaerjeng. This club announced that they would like to start partnership with Special Olympics Luxembourg.
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| Two Special Olympics Luxembourg Unified Sports teams. Photographer: Gerard Leeninga, Special Olympics Luxembourg |
On 30 April, Special Olympics Luxembourg organized a Unified Sports 7-a-side football tournament with six teams from Luxembourg, one team from Germany and one team from France. Teams played in two groups and for the first time two teams from northern Luxembourg participated in the tournament.
During Football Week several radio stations ran promotional reports on Special Olympics and the gala game. On 29 April, national television broadcaster RTL-TV ran a two-minute report on the gala. Several main newspapers also carried articles.
Newly recruited Special Olympics athletes have chance to play in a national tournament
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| Special Olympics players and coaches at tournament in Bitola. Photo courtesy of Special Olympics Macedonia |
On 28 April, Special Olympics Macedonia organized a national football tournament for 250 athletes at the city stadium in Bitola. There were 22 teams and eight Unified® teams. Approximately 30 percent of the new players were newly recruited to Special Olympics. About 500 spectators came to see the action. Guests included representatives from the government agency for sport and youth. Special Olympics football ambassador Gjoko Hadzievski, a former player and well-known coach, also attended as did other former and current star players. Media coverage was outstanding with all of the local media and several major national media covering the event.
Almost 500 football players play in national league football stadiums
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| Special Olympics players got to take a shot at a professional goalie. Photo courtesy of Special Olympics Netherlands |
For the second year, Special Olympics Netherlands worked successfully with the country's best football league, the Gouden Gids Divisie. This cooperation creates media attention and opportunities for Special Olympics athletes to play football. Month-long activities ran from 8 April to 6 May and involved 20 football matches and 40 Special Olympics teams that had a chance to play a match or take penalty shots during Gouden Gids competitions. For Special Olympics players, particularly for the six teams under 16 years old, being on a pitch in a stadium was an awesome experience. At the same time, spectators loved the Special Olympics matches so much that the players sometimes could not leave the pitch fast enough before the professionals took over because the crowds wanted more.
National television and several newspapers covered the events while the professional clubs posted information about Football Week on their Web sites.
Activities also included a fundraising activity with NFSG, a national fundraising organization for athletes with disabilities. Television sports presenter Hans Kraaij, Jr., the organization's ambassador, was part of a radio campaign to raise funds for Special Olympics. Volunteers from football clubs also collected money prior to division matches.
Unified Sports makes successful debut in joint initiative involving SO Get Into It
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| Action on the pitch in Romania. Photo courtesy of Special Olympics Romania |
More than 1,200 Special Olympics players competed in football matches throughout Romania during Football Week. County and regional events were held in more than 20 locations and involved male and female youth players and Unified Sports® teams between 12 and 16 years old.
For Special Olympics Romania, Unified Sports made its debut this year as part of an initiative involving the Special Olympics Get Into It classroom curriculum (SO Get Into It™). Students who excelled during the classroom discussion and a group of special school students joined forces, practiced for weeks and played exciting matches which showed their combined abilities.
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| Unified Sports football makes a successful debut. Photo courtesy of Special Olympics Romania |
Female athletes also had the ability to show their endurance during Football Week when 24 teams in six counties had the chance to compete and show their skills on the pitch.
Another big event during Football Week was the Bucharest regional tournament on 23 April involving six teams and more than 80 athletes from Bucharest and neighboring counties. One of the highlights of the tournament was that each athlete had a chance to pass a FUNfitness screening coordinated by physical therapy professors
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| A FUNfitness screening was held during the Bucharest event. Photo courtesy of Special Olympics Romania | from universities throughout Romania and student volunteers from two Bucharest universities, ANEFS and Spiru Haret. After the screening, each athlete was trained on how to increase and maintain flexibility, functional strength, balance and general improvement in sporting performance.
The afternoon also brought surprise visitors: former national team players Ionut Lupescu, Jean Vladoiu, Tom Cristea and Florin Motroc. The professional players joined Special Olympics players on the pitch for a Unified Sports® game.
Special Olympics Turkey gets big support from the football association, major teams
Special Olympics Turkey organized football events in eight major cities from 29 April-1 May. Approximately 850 Special Olympics players, making up 40 teams, were involved. The Turkish Football Association was instrumental in the success of the events. One of the highlights of activities in Turkey was during a professional match between Superleague teams Galatasaray SC and Malatyaspor when Special Olympics players walked onto the pitch hand-in-hand with the team players and a Special Olympics European Football Week banner was presented to spectators along with a welcome sign.
Special Olympics footballers have very public introduction in eastern Ukraine
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| A Special Olympics athlete parade in front of 20,000 spectators was held at halftime during a Premier Division match in Kharkiv. Photographer Miroslaw Krogulec, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia |
The first-ever Special Olympics sports event was held on 24 April in Kharkov, the second-largest city in Ukraine with a population of 3 million. Eight 5-a-side teams representing seven regions participated in a final football tournament in Kharkov. Prior to the final, 12 special schools organized local Special Olympics tournaments for more than 280 players. As part of the Awards Ceremonies, all players and coaches were invited to the stadium of FC Metalist Kharkiv. During halftime of a Premier Division match between the home team and FC Tavrija Simferopol and with 20,000 spectators watching, Special Olympics players were presented with their awards and given footballs. Dignitaries who presented awards were Victor Pavlenko, Chief of the Sport Department in the Ministry of Education, Kharkov Region; Vasily Zdanov, Chief of the Sport Department in Kharkov Region; and Alexandr Turyn, Vice President, Kharkov Football Association.
"Please let me know what else should we do for Special Olympics and we will do it," said Vladimir Bobayev, President, Kharkov Football Association and Vice Governor, Kharkov Region, who also attended.
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| Special Olympics players representing Special Schools No. 4 and Zugres during the final game in Donetsk. Photographer: Miroslaw Krogulec, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia |
A similar first-time event was held in Donetsk on 25 April when 80 players from five cities participated in a final 5-a-side tournament. The event was hosted by a mainstream school where Special Olympics players had the chance to play for the first time on an artificial football pitch. "I was wondering how my pupils would welcome Special Olympics athletes," said Andriy Udovenko, School Director and former Vice Governor of the city of Donetsk. "Now, I'm so proud of them, and I know they are ready to be involved in more Special Olympics events." Udovenko agreed to become the new Special Olympics Regional Coordinator to develop Special Olympics in Donetsk Region, which has a population of more than 5 million. "It is the first time ever people in Donetsk have seen Special Olympics athletes on such a large scale. I have no doubt that this movement is changing not only their lives but ours, too," Udovenko said.
After Closing Ceremonies athletes went to FC Shakhtar Donetsk Stadium to see a Premier Division match between top teams FC Dynamo Kyiv and FC Metalurh Donetsk.
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| The Special Olympics team from Zugres at the Shakhtar stadium in Donetsk. Photographer: Miroslaw Krogulec, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia | At halftime, 8,000 spectators warmly welcomed Special Olympics footballers as they were presented with awards from dignitaries and the Donetsk Football Association.
The third tournament — another first-time Special Olympics event — was held in Dnipropetrovsk on 27-28 April. Twenty-teams, including eight female teams, competed in a 5-a-side tournament on the artificial pitches of a mainstream school. The local football association and the city sports department provided attractive programs and awards. Special Olympics players will be invited to watch an upcoming match between FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.
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| Female teams from special schools in Magdalinovskaya and Petrotravenskaya before the match in Dnipropetrovsk. Photographer: Miroslaw Krogulec, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia |
"We desperately need Special Olympics events here in Dnipropetrovsk. There are many athletes with special needs who love sports and we now know there is a movement for them," said Vaceslav Hrichenko, Director of a sports school for disabled children.
In addition to the activities in eastern Ukraine, football events were held in the regions of Crimea, Lviv, Poltava, Mykolayeav, Kiev, Rivne, Tchernigov, Vinnica and Odessa. In all, 1,500 Special Olympics players participated in activities which were noted in the official calendar of Ministry of Education. Regional football associations, local governments and McDonald's supported events.
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