UEFA.com
Aug 6 2004

Bringing football to children

UEFA’s charity partner Cross Cultures has just completed the training
of 1,800 prospective coaches for its popular and long-running Open
Fun Football Schools concept in the Balkan and Caucasus regions.

Association help
Together with 1,500 trainer assistants and more than 500 football
clubs, the coaches are now ready to welcome 25,000 boys and girls
aged between eight and 12 to an Open Fun Football School. The
trainers have been educated in co-operation with the football
associations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia,
Georgia, F.Y.R. Macedonia, and Serbia and Montenegro.

Charity portfolio
Cross Cultures’ Open Fun Football Schools are part of UEFA’s charity
portfolio, and are also backed by the governments of Denmark, Norway,
Sweden and Finland, as well as by the Novo Nordisk healthcare
enterprise. Last November, UEFA presented a cheque for 400,000 to
the Open Fun Football Schools project. The funds were drawn from
fines imposed by the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body in UEFA
competitions during the 2002/03 season.

1998 start
In 1998, the project started in war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina with 12
football schools involving 2,252 boys and girls, and 189 coaches and
school leaders. In summer 2003, Open Fun Football Schools staged a
total of 78 schools involving 16,000 youngsters (13,000 boys and
3,000 girls) and 1,400 trainers and school leaders from
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Serbia and Montenegro. Schools
were also set up for the first time in Croatia, Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan.

Charity programme
“We are a charity programme that wishes to bring football to all
children regardless of talent, skills, ethnic or social background,”
said Cross Cultures director Anders Levinsen. “And as initiator, it
is fantastic to see how this idea is supported by enthusiastic and
dedicated people.”

Girl support
As a charity programme, Open Fun Football Schools’ requirement is
that a minimum 50 per cent of all children taking part are boys and
girls who are not yet members of a football club, but who would love
to become members. Furthermore, the Open Fun Football Schools also
wish to promote girls football, and given the many new female coaches
Cross Cultures has trained this summer, the organisation expects a
minimum 25 per cent of all participants in the Balkans to be girls.

Community work
Along with the programme, Cross Cultures is distributing 27,000
footballs, trainers’ clothes and other equipment for the
participating football clubs. “By implementing our many trainer
seminars and by leaving all the equipment behind, we hope we can
motivate and encourage the local football clubs to continue their
important community work in organising grassroots football for their
children all year around,” Anders Levinsen concluded.