MOSCOW, April 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Today the International Day of Football and Friendship is
celebrated as part of the children's social FOOTBALL FOR FRIENDSHIP
programme, implemented by Gazprom Company. All the participating
countries have joined the celebration: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech
Republic, France,
Japan, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, the
Netherlands, Poland,
Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic,
Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140708/696621 )
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150427/740719 )
Within the International Day of Football and Friendship a lot of
friendly football matches are organised to remind boys and girls of
the key values the FOOTBALL FOR FRIENDSHIP programme is supporting
and promoting, namely friendship, equality, fairness, health,
peace, devotion, victory and traditions.
All the events start with the exchange of Friendship bracelets,
signifying tolerance, equality and a healthy lifestyle. The
bracelet is made of two simple strings of green and blue colours
where green symbolises the football field, available for everyone,
and blue the peaceful sky above our heads. As ambassadors of
the FOOTBALL FOR FRIENDSHIP movement children present bracelets not
only to the players of other teams but also to the invited
guests.
The International Day of Football and Friendship is
traditionally supported by representatives of football
organisations, famous sportsmen as well as major national and
global media.
Besides friendly matches, this day features other types of
events. Thus in Serbia young football players spoke about the Day
of Football and Friendship during a TV-show hosted by the popular
anchorman Ivan Ivanovic. In
Germany Schalke04 football club
stars hold open training for children. French city Taverny
traditionally hosts a number of games and events with participation
of media and representatives of local authorities. In Russia the Friendship relay is carried out,
namely football matches featuring young players of famous football
clubs and torchbearers of the Olympic Torch Relay 2014, accompanied
by an online broadcast of a virtual baton pass to another city.
The FOOTBALL FOR FRIENDSHIP project is being operated globally
by AGT Communications Group (Russia).