The Sport Against Racism Ireland (Sari) team has returned from the third European Street Football Festival in Belgrade, Serbia, following an impressive outing. The event comprised five days of cultural exchange and Fair Play soccer between 20 network members of Streetfootballworld from across Europe and the Balkans.
Sari’s team qualified for the quarter-final group stage, where they lost 4-2 to eventual winners FF Gorazde from Bosnia.
All matches were played with mixed-gender teams, and team pairings negotiated their own rules for each game in order to promote dialogue, understanding and fairness.
Street culture activities such as freestyle soccer, footbag, beatboxing and DJing added to the excitement of the festival.
The SARI team – alongside coach Zuby Ufoh and youth leader Kristen Sample – included Efosa Omoregie, Gugu Banda, Kirsty Hogan, Leah Cassidy, Edi Sirbu, Tanaka Mabvaro, Sinead Hughes and Abdul Mamani.
