Football Is Inclusion: yesterday the first friendly for integrated football

The time has also come for the boys and girls of San Marino Academy’s integrated football team to take to the pitch for a friendly match within the friendly confines of the Stadio Federico Crescentini in Fiorentino. The meeting with their counterparts from the integrated football team of Around Sport of Savignano sul Rubicone saw seventeen boys and girls with disabilities and twenty-five boys and girls without disabilities take to the field. The four teams, two per club, played two twenty-minute matches on two adjacent pitches, with rules specifically designed to ensure the full technical and tactical involvement of all players. Plenty of goals, many hugs and healthy competitiveness were the standout features against the backdrop of a warm, welcoming sporting atmosphere, shaped by the diverse characteristics of the youngsters (ability, age and gender) and by the passion and expertise of the technical and educational staff of both sides. After the final whistle, everyone gathered in a circle in the centre of the pitch to collect immediate feedback from the boys and girls, before heading to the stand to greet their parents with all the players running hand in hand. And, as in every genuine sporting contest, the celebration continued off the pitch with a third half featuring focacce, tarts and new friendships. An ideal way to prepare for the return fixture, which will see the San Marino Academy’s integrated football team – participants in the San Marino Football Federation’s Football Is Inclusion project – embark on their first away trip to Savignano sul Rubicone.

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