The team Nikšić, from Montenegro, is the winner of the first European Street Football Festival, held from May 22 to May 25, 2008, in Foča, small town in southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The festival, supported by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Enlargement and organised by non-governmental organisations “Streetfootballworld” from Germany and its partner “Football Friends” from the Republic of Serbia, gathered 240 young players from 15 European countries. .
“This unique sports event brought together young people from all over Europe who enjoy playing street football”, noted Olli Rehn, EU Commissioner for Enlargement. Mentioning the words of Mr. Rehn during the meeting of organisers and journalists from all over Europe, Mayor of Foča Mr. Zdravko Krsmanović, stressed that the main message of this event were characteristics of football – friendship, trust and intercultural cooperation.
Mr Krsmanović presented a symbolic present to Mr. Ferdinand Kopp who, on behalf of European Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, expressed his hope that such an event represents a great opportunity not only for Foča, but for the entire region. “I hope that such an event sends a positive signal from Foča”, added Mr. Kopp.
Former German national football player Carsten Ramelow met with the teams and gave young street footballers some insights into the game. “I have played street football during my childhood, and I believe it is an excellent opportunity for children from different cultures to come closer through playing football. I accepted an invitation to give my contribution to this great event that promotes the social dimension of football in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, said Mr. Ramelow who presented to Veselko Njeguš, a young street football player from Foča, his original and signed T-shirt from a German football team of Bayer Leverkusen, for which he played for 12 years.
Watching the games with sincere interest, Mr. Luka Sodja from the European Commission, Enlargement Directorate General, explained that this project was supported because it represents the other, social side of the Directorate-General for Enlargement involvement in BiH. “We wanted to support the project that shows young people from both Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region that they are not different from the children from other European countries. We wanted to let the children, game and football do the talking.” Mr. Sodja stressed that the football pitch would remain as one of the long lasting results of this project to the children of Foča to continue playing street football after the tournament.
Mayor Krsmanović added that, during these days, Foča was an example of open city and real centre of youth and sport.
About European Street Football Festival
The tournament brought together 24 teams, each consisting of eight young, amateur street football players aged 14-18. From Bosnia and Herzegovina, the following teams took part in the tournament: Football Friends (Foča), Banja Luka, Goražde, Mostar, Sarajevo, Trebinje, Ustikolina i Zenica.
Twelve teams from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom and Turkey, respectively, were selected to play in the festival for their contributions to social development through football, with each team representing a social, non-profit organisation active in this field. The twelve teams from the Western Balkans region brought together in the spirit of friendship and tolerance, communities from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Participants attended workshops on fair play in football and learned from other young people committed to social development through football. The football matches were played according to special fair play rules. There were no referees and players themselves were responsible for calling fouls and resolving disputes through dialogue.
