Photo: MFF

Over one hundred children from eight communities from both banks of the Nistru River took part in the Football Festival “TOGETHER we are a team” during 12-13 May 2018.  The event was organized at the premises of the Sports School for Children and Teenagers in Grigoriopol, left bank of the River Nistru.

The event was attended by teams from localities where the educational and sports institutions were modernized with the financial support of the European Union: Varnita, Serpeni, Roscani, Tanatari, Chircaiesti, as well as Grigoriopol, Blijnii Hutor and Dubasari.

The event was opened by Marco Gemmer, Deputy Head of Operations Section at EU Delegation: “Wherever you play football, the game rules are always the same. The most important thing offered by this event is the possibility to make new friends”.

“This festival has no winners.  Each team was awarded a medal, diplomas and a Cup. Hence, we would like to share the fundamental principles of football: respect, friendship and solidarity”, mentioned Valentin Chicu, Grassroots Projects Coordinator of the Moldovan Football Federation (MFF).

In turn, Serghei Ursul, the Manager of Regional Development Office "EST" of MFF noted that he hopes that the festival will become an annual event.  It should be mentioned that each institution that took part in the competition received sports goods in the amount of over 13 thousand MDL.

The Festival agenda also included entertainment activities. In the evening, after the competition, the children sat by the fire and played games.

“We were very excited when told by our coach that we were going to the left bank of the Nistru River for a football tournament!  We are here for the first time and we love it! We have already made many friends and I hope to see them at other sports events. I liked most of all to play football here and participate in competitions. The presents were really beautiful! We had really good time!” said Igor Cirlig, pupil at the Gymnasium P. Erhan, Tanatari village (Causeni district).

The Football Festival “TOGETHER we are a team!” was organized by the Moldovan Football Federation under the Support to Confidence Building Measures Programme funded by the European Union and implemented by the UNDP.  The overall objective of the project is to create optimal conditions for the development, promotion and monitoring of sport in localities on both banks of the Nistru River through joint sports events.