• it was the first time that a women’s tournament took place at the EUROPEADA

• Occitans and South Tyrol hand in hand after the final match

• this evening the men’s semi-finals will be played – tomorrow at 16 hr will be the men’s final

South Tyrol, 24 June 2016

At the European football championship of the autochthonous, national minorities (EUROPEADA) in South Tyrol, the team of the South Tyroleans won the women’s final against the Occitans in Olang with 3:2. After the match, both teams embraced each other and were celebrated by fans who had travelled to the tournament from all over Europe. The selection, which carries the official name of “Occitània”, represents the Occitan language minority. The Occitan language is spoken across a large area in the south of France and reaches into the Spanish Val d’Aran and into a number of valleys in Piedmont in Italy. It is the first time that a women’s tournament has been organised at the EUROPEADA.

“This EUROPEADA made clear that the solidarity between the women and men teams from one minority is strong. They cheer for each other and as a consequence there is a great dynamism, also for getting the support from other teams. That is very much the spirit of the EUROPEADA. It was a successful premiere that must be continued”, said Siegfried Stocker, the chairman of the South Tyrolean organising committee of the EUROPEADA. The organiser of the European football championship is the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), which represents about 100 organisations of the autochthonous, national minorities (www.fuen.org). The host of the EUROPEADA this year, are the Ladin minority and the German-speaking Souht Tyroleans – their men’s team was the champion of the EUROPEADA 2008 (organised at the Romansh in the Swiss Canton of Grisons) and the EUROPEADA 2012 (organised at the Sorbs in the region of Upper Lusatia in Germany).

“Once you notice how people from different backgrounds and with different languages exchange views and how they enjoy the games together – like for example today at the women’s match for the third place and in the final, then it is clear that the concept of the EUROPEADA is working”, said Loránt Vincze, President of FUEN. During the match-free day, there was a Culture Day for all the teams in San Martin de Tor / St. Martin in Thurn, where every minority presented itself in an art-performance, among other things.

Tomorrow, Saturday 25 June, again several matches of the placement tournament will take place, before the men’s match for the third place will be at 13:00 hr and also the final that will start at 16:00 hr. Both these matches are in Sand in Taufers. Who will play in which match is decided this evening in the semi-finals. The great end celebration will start tomorrow at 19:00 hr – also in the stadium of Sand in Taufers.   

More information and photos are available at www.europeada.eu and at https://www.facebook.com/europeadatournament/