Young stars shine at first edition EFDN Special Champions League

Ten teams, bringing more than 100 kids, coaches, and fans from all over Europe, came to Breda to meet each other in the First Edition of the EFDN Special Champions League. At this first ever event participated the young stars of SL Benfica from Portugal, Everton FC from England, Bohemian FC Dublin (Ireland), Bayer 04 Leverkusen and SV Werder Bremen (Germany), Inter Campus Kraków (Poland) and three Dutch clubs: FC Emmen, Excelsior Rotterdam and two teams of N.E.C. Nijmegen.

Deputy Major Arjen van Drunen opened the tournament with a successful penalty-kick on the goalie of Everton FC and acted as a referee in the first match of the day.

The youngsters then showed the best of themselves, shining in a Champions League setting and scoring as great goals as the professional players in the ‘real’ tournament. Apart from that they also had great fun on the Human Football Table. And at the end of the day we only had winners!

The Special Champions League is a new project of EFDN that will provide a safe, inclusive, and active environment where young people between 10 and 18 years old with an intellectual disability can come together and play football at a level, they are all comfortable with.

EFDN will organise two to four European Football Festivals per year hosted by various network members throughout the season. Although the name perhaps suggests something different, the tournaments are non-competitive and a way to promote greater social inclusion and acceptance of disability football within European Football clubs and the wider European population. Through football, we want to get more young people with intellectual disabilities physically socially active in their communities and increase integration and inclusion within society. The EFDN Special Champions League will provide opportunities for participants to improve their physical health, increase their confidence, meet new people, learn about others, and establish social bonds. This first edition was a promising and great success!