Football for social inclusion

Another year goes by and football has yet again proved its integrative potential at Marcet. The sheer passion for this sport unites millions of people around the globe regardless of skin color, social class or the individual peculiarities of each and every one of us. A passion that has brought together dozens of children for the annual championship celebrated by the Catalan Federation of Sports for the Mentally Disabled (ACELL).

Within the framework of their campaign promoting sport’s values, the Marcet Foundation has sponsored this event, for the eighth year running, which gives this collective a memorable day of sporting fun. The participants played matches all morning and were given their respective prizes in the early afternoon. In the prize-giving ceremony, both representatives of the local authorities and the president of the Marcet Foundation took part. The winning teams received their cups in an atmosphere of joy and camaraderie.

ACELL has close to a hundred active entities and over 4,000 registered members. The Catalan Federation of Sports for the Mentally Disabled organises championships every four years for different sports: indoor football, athletics, basketball and swimming. Additionally, during the football season an indoor football league is held at the Marcet Foundation facilities.

These championships highlight the most authentic value this sport has: that beyond its competitive side, it can and should be understood and taken for as an instrument of social inclusion capable of reaching every corner of the planet. This is the main objective for the Marcet Foundation, which translates to projects like the supervisor course for mentally disabled and the pedagogical training and coach ethics programme. Initiatives that are created with the end goal of promoting equality in terms of opportunity and quality of life.