For five years Gothia Cup and Svenska Missionskyrkan runs a football school for about 500 kids in Congo Brazzaville. Every week the children have football practice, matches and different social activities. It means a lot to them and their developement but it has also developed into a positive example of friendship and peace in a war-torn country.The idea of a team from the football school to be able to come to Sweden and Gothia Cup has been a far away dream. Now it seems as like the dream will come true since Ydemer, a consulting company, has decided to sponsor the team.
The squad that will come to Sweden from Congo this summer consists of 20 people: 16 players and 4 trainers. It will be an exiting adventure for the youths because most of them have never been outside their city lines. They have already started to prepare themselves in different ways. Apart from a lot of football training, the Swedish volunteers in Congo will teach them about Swedish culture, its geography and its history.
The group will stay in Sweden for three weeks. One week they will join a soccer camp in Fiskebäck, Gothenburg, together with teams from other African countries and some local teams, everything to create friendship across the borders. They will have football practice together, excursions, coach training and other activities.
Then it´s time for Gothia Cup, the world’s largest youth tournament in football, where they, for the first time, can encounter teams from all around the world.
Hosts for the team during their visit to Sweden will be the volunteers that have been working with them in Congo.
We are very thankful to Ydemer for making this dream come true and we hope that the team from Congo will have a nice visit in Sweden.
