MADRID, 24 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
LaLiga, through its Foundation, and the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR) have launched a day of training and coexistence with football teams for refugees, promoting football as a “tool for social inclusion”, according to a statement .
“Football is, without a doubt, a magnificent tool for social inclusion. A clear example of this is the project launched by CEAR in its offices in Alicante and Valencia, through which, and with the collaboration of the LaLiga FOUNDATION, More than 100 people from these regions are practicing sports to facilitate the social integration of the people of this group,” reported the employers’ association.
The meeting represented a day of “coexistence, socio-sports training and learning” in an atmosphere of “sportsmanship, trust and respect”. In addition, they carried out a series of playful and cooperative workshops through football to “promote the positive values of the competition”. Both activities were led by a technical-sports trainer from the LaLiga FOUNDATION. Finally, a fun and friendly match between the two teams took place.
“This event has served as a union between both projects, but also to witness the qualitative evolution and continuous improvement of the people who make up the CEAR CF of these two delegations of the Valencian Community, two and a half years after the creation of this initiative in which the LaLiga FOUNDATION participates by providing material and socio-sports support”, highlighted LaLiga.
Since its inception, CEAR CF has promoted, in parallel to the sports competition -in the Vistahermosa 7-a-side soccer league for the CEAR Alicante team, and in the SportCity Valencia league, in the case of the CEAR Valencia team-, the development of an itinerary for the socio-labour insertion of the participants, which has led to an “encouragement in their involvement and a greater commitment to the program, as well as the creation of informal spaces for relationships where they have expanded their support networks”.
“We are very happy to see how, through football, we are managing to really help the social inclusion of refugees. Thanks to CEAR for involving us in this highly enriching project, in which the positive values of sport such as teamwork, tolerance or respect for rivals acquire a dimension and learning that can be extrapolated beyond the playing fields”, stated the director of the LaLiga FOUNDATION, Olga de la Fuente,
From CEAR Alicante they see football as “a universal sport that knows no borders” and the CEAR CF initiative has enabled “the creation of a shared learning space that goes far beyond what is strictly sporting”. “It has made it possible to create those bridges of connection between different cultures, where the people who make it up, both refugees and volunteers, generate links that provide support in their inclusion process and their emotional recovery,” said Laura González, territorial coordinator of CEAR Alicante.
“At CEAR Valencia, we have been working through sport for 17 years as a line of intervention for the inclusion of the people we serve. Having funding from the LaLiga FOUNDATION has allowed us to give it structure, stabilizing work and creating a permanent relationship channel intercultural group cohesion and inclusion for all members of the football team”, concluded the director of the Migration Center of CEAR Valencia, Francisco Jiménez.