Spreading the word in Sarajevo

By Fuad Krvavac

Tennis ace
The Manchester United FC director was joined by the former Romanian tennis player Ilie Nastase and representatives of the Bosnia & Herzegovina Football Federation at the National stadium for a training session with youngsters from FK Sarajevo and FK Zelijo, and to talk about the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

Landmine risk
By providing football coaching and mine risk education to children and young adults - regardless of age, gender, religion or race - the Spirit of Soccer Project has positively affected the attitude of young Bosnia-Herzegovnians to the threat of landmines and brought together trainers and players from three main ethnic groups in the country.

'Small contribution'
"I know that the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina have suffered a lot, and that many children have died or been injured because of mines left from the war," said Sir Bobby, who last visited this stadium 38 years ago as a player. "That's why I'm here, to help as much as I can. This is a small contribution for these young fellows who have to know that soccer can provide a way out from any bad situation."

Charity partner
In the current project, Spirit of Soccer has directly educated and trained over 7,000 players at 100 clubs and, through a joint pilot teacher training project with Open Fun Football Schools - one of UEFA's main charity partners - educated and trained a further 4,000 players, thus reaching a total of 11,000 children throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina.