Start of the EUROPEADA 2016

The EUROPEADA, the European football championship of the autochthonous, national minorities is starting with a big opening ceremony at the Rathausplatz square in Bruneck. Until 26 June, 24 mens’s teams and – in their own tournament – for the first time also six women’s teams will compete against each another. The matches will take place in the Pustertal Valley and in the neighbouring Val Badia Valley. The EUROPEADA is a major sports event that combines a fair competition and European sports celebration with the issues that are of concern to the autochthonous, national minorities. The focus is on living peacefully together and on tolerance, on the preservation of cultural and linguistic heritage, on diversity and on bringing people of different origin together. The organiser is the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN) that represents around 100 organisations of autochthonous, national minorities. The hosts of the EUROPEADA 2016 are the Ladins and the German-speaking South Tyroleans, who won the EUROPEADA already two times.

The event in South Tyrol is the third EUROPEADA, after a first European football championship took place at the Romansh people in Grisons/Switzerland in 2008 and at the Lusatian Sorbs in Germany in 2012. The Federation of South Tyrolean Football Associations VSS (Verein der Südtiroler Sportverbände) and the local organising committee and its president Siegfried Stocker prepared the tournament and will ensure that everything runs smoothly.

A total number of 23 minorities will start the tournament in South Tyrol. A novelty this time is that there is also a women’s tournament. The German-speaking South Tyroleans, the Ladins, the Lusatian Sorbs, the Germans from Russia, the Occitans and the Romansh will participate in this tournament. The venues of the matches are Sand in Taufers, Niederdorf, Olang, San Martin de Tor/St. Martin in Thurn, Pfalzen, St. Johann im Ahrntal, Mühlwald und Al Plan de Mareo/St. Vigil in Enneberg.

Through the EUROPEADA, new partnerships shall be developed between the teams their fans and the local sports associations and other actors, and active exchange shall be promoted. An important element in this regard is the Cultural Day, an integral element of the EUROPEADA, where the different minorities will present themselves. This will take place on 22 June in the

Museumladin in San Martin de Tor/St. Martin in Thurn. The full programme and more additional information about the EUROPEADA is available at www.europeada.eu.