Celebration of the International Days of the Deaf and Sign Language at Levante UD

Celebration of the International Days of the Deaf and Sign Language at Levante UD

This past weekend the Ciutat de Valencia was able to celebrate twice the victory of the team against Eldense, but in a slightly different way. Levante UD and its Foundation, as part of Deaf People’s Week and coinciding with the International Deaf and Sign Language Days – which were celebrated this weekend – tried to encourage a totally inclusive atmosphere in the run-up to the match. In the days leading up to the match and in the run-up to it, different social actions were carried out focused on the inclusion of people with hearing disabilities through football.

Through the Valencian association Fesord, 8 hearing impaired people had the opportunity to attend a football stadium for the first time in their lives, and were even able to chat with the Granota manager, Javier Calleja, and the newly appointed club president, Pablo Sanchez.

In addition, the stadium’s video scoreboards showed the anthem interpreted in sign language as the players took to the pitch, as well as encouraging applause in sign language during key moments of the match.

To round off this inclusive social action, the Levante UD EDI player, María Fernanda Ibañez, a deaf athlete, had the honour of placing the official LaLiga ball on the stand designed for this purpose, seconds before the start of the match.

“It is a source of great pride to work on these social actions alongside the club in order to be a powerful loudspeaker and to reach as far as possible with our values.”

Vicente Herrero, director of the Levante UD Foundation

An initiative that has been very well received by the fans in the run-up to the match and which has culminated in a double victory for the team: on and off the pitch.