Partners and Events
No.48
September 2006
 
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MYSA from Kenya Crowned as the First Street Football World Champion
Panos Manologlou & Vladimir Borkovic

 
© Mauricio Bustamante © Henrique Vilela

On July 8th, one day before the grand finale of the FIFA World Cup 2006 at Berlin’s historical “Olympiastadion”, another landmark event was taking place a few kilometres east. In the colourful and lively Kreuzberg district, the first ever Street Football World Cup was at its concluding stage with an equally -though very different in every aspect- important finale.
The two finalists both come from Africa, the continent which for the first time will host the FIFA World Cup, in 2010. In front of 2500 enthusiastic spectators, MYSA (Mathare Youth Sports Association) from Kenya, as well as everyone present that day, had to wait until the penalty shoot out to celebrate the victory over KickAIDS, the South African project team. The end of the regular game found the two teams tied at 2:2.
The “streetfootballworld festival 06” opened its gates in Berlin on July 2. Initially, 24 teams representing 24 projects in 5 continents were scheduled to take place at the adjacent Street Football World Cup. Unfortunately two of the teams, projects Search and Groom (Nigeria) and Play Soccer (Ghana) were not able to secure their visas and did not attend the event. However, for the 22 teams present, as well for a total of 35,000 spectators, there was plenty of action and fun. Within 6 days, more than 100 matches took place in an innovative street football stadium with a capacity of almost 2500, specially and temporarily constructed for the occasion. The presence of the media was also significant, with about 800 accredited journalists from all over the world covering the event.
© Antonia Kilian © Fotografie am Schiffbauerdamm

Though the festival 06 was an innovative and very successful idea in itself, another pioneering move by streetfootballworld was to name the trophy of the tournament after Andrés Escobar, the late Colombian national footballer who paid for an on field mistake with his life, in 1994. Escobar scored an own goal at the FIFA World Cup in the USA and for that reason, was later murdered in Colombia. That incident was also the ignition for the creation of the worldwide network by Jürgen Griesbeck, the managing director of streetfootballworld. Along with FIFA’s Deputy General Secretary, Jerome Champagne, he was the one to award the Copa Andrés Escobar trophy to the champions.
“Every single one of these teams deserves the award. Everyone has worked hard for it in their projects and MYSA are able to take it home with them today”, were the words of Jürgen Griesbeck, right before bestowing the trophy to the champions. On behalf of FIFA, the Head of its Corporate Social Responsibility Department, Federico Addiechi, proceeded with the symbolic gesture to award five representatives from the streetfootballworld network with the FIFA Fair Play Trophy, on behalf of all participants of the festival 06. The idea of Fair Play was lively interpreted by the young participants, as they played their matches without a referee and therefore had to define the rules before every match – and to stick to them under all circumstances. Danny Jordan, Head of the Local Organizing Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, renewed the appointment as he vigorously stated to the audience that “we will see each other in South Africa!” where, parallel to the FIFA WC, the second streetfootballworld festival is scheduled to take place. This milestone event is only one aspect of the recently established strategic alliance between streetfootballworld and FIFA with a common goal to contribute even more to the field of social development through football.
At the end of the closing ceremony of the festival 06, every player received a trademark ‘festival 06’ football, all of which were fairly manufactured in Pakistan and sponsored by TransFair. Moreover, Cornelia Reinauer, District Mayor of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, offered 22 Buddy-Bears, a symbol of the city, to the participating teams. This gift was specially designed and produced for the teams. The festival 06, being a celebration in itself, finished in the best way: over 50 players from all participating projects and nations performed a special version of the Murga, the traditional Argentinian street dance. The dance, especially created for the occasion, featured elements from different cultural backgrounds.
In less than four years from today, MYSA will get the chance to defend their valuable title. Whether they lose or win, they know the most important part is simply being there, a live example of the hard work that takes place in social development through football projects around the world.

Contact
Panos Manologlou & Vladimir Borkovic
streetfootballworld
Sybelstraße 58
10629 Berlin
T +49. 30. 7800 6248
F +49. 30. 7800 6245
E borkovic@streetfootballworld.org




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