EUROPEADA and UEFA explore cooperation

"EUROPEADA and UEFA have many common values and interests, which is why we want to work together," said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin at a meeting with FUEN and the EUROPEADA organising committee in Vienna yesterday.

FUEN President Loránt Vincze expressed his conviction that "we are witnessing the beginning of a long-term cooperation in the spirit of integrating sport, the need for the protection of the European linguistic and cultural diversity and the important task to take a common stand against hate speech and xenophobia". He invited the UEFA President to be the honorary patron of the opening of EUROPEADA 2022, which will take place in St.Kanzian/Škocjan am Klopeiner See in Carinthia/Koroška, Austria.

The meeting took place on the initiative of the Slovenian Ambassador in Vienna, Dr. Aleksandar Geržina, who also took the opportunity to point out the support of the Republic of Slovenia for the EUROPEADA project. Representatives of the EUROPEADA organising committee also presented the UEFA President with the number 22 jersey of the Carinthian Slovenian national team.

Meeting in Vienna: (from left to right) Matjaž Marko, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in the Republic of Austria; Aleksander Geržina, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia in the Republic of Austria; Loránt Vincze, Member of the European Parliament / President of FUEN; Angelika Mlinar, Vice-President of FUEN; Aleksander Čeferin, President of the European Football Association UEFA; Marko Loibnegger, President of the Association Europeada / Secretary General of the Slovenian Sports Association in Carinthia; Marko Oraže, Managing Director of the Council of Carinthian Slovenes (NSKS) / Vice President of the Association Europeada. Capture: UEFA

Background

EUROPEADA is the European Football Championship of the autochthonous national minorities - a major sporting event that combines fair competition and the enthusiasm of a sports festival with the concerns of the autochthonous national minorities. The meeting and exchange of the minorities and the public promotion are in the centre of attention. The Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) organises EUROPEADA in cooperation with the Slovenian Sports Association from Klagenfurt, the Council of Carinthian Slovenes, the province of Carinthia and the Republic of Slovenia.

After being hosted by the Rhaeto-Romans in Switzerland in 2008, the Lusatian Sorbs in Germany in 2012 and the Ladins and German-speaking South Tyroleans in Italy in 2016, EUROPEADA 2022 will take place in Carinthia/Koroška, Austria, from 25 June to 3 July under the motto "TOGETHER UNIQUE / SKUPNO ENKRATNI / COMMONLY UNIQUE".  About 20 men's and four women's teams will participate.

More information about EUROPEADA can be found here