'A unique learning experience'

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UEFA President Michel Platini (©Getty Images)

UEFA President Michel Platini looks forward to the 2007 UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup in Spain and the unprecedented opportunity the competition offers to all participants.

On behalf of UEFA, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to Barcelona for the 6th UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup which, this year, is taking place in the year the African Football Confederation, CAF, celebrates its golden jubilee. It also marks the tenth anniversary of the Meridian Project.

It is a unique competition. More than any other, it symbolises solidarity and the embracing of other cultures. It is the cup of exchange and sharing, the cup of youth and hope.

The Meridian Cup is a bridge between two continents united by a love of football but divided, unfortunately, by differing resources. UEFA currently has the means to pursue its ambitions, means that I believe, however, that it should share. As a game, and as the simplest and most beautiful game in the world, football has a social responsibility which it cannot ignore.

Thanks to the tremendous welcome of the Spanish football association, the Catalan football association, FC Barcelona, and the city of Barcelona and their first-class organisation of this event, Europe and Africa will have the opportunity to spend a few days getting to know each other better through a common love of football. In the time it takes to play two 90-minute matches, the simplicity of the game will push back borders, erase differences and break down barriers. And at the end of it all, there will be just one winner, to everyone's delight: football!

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