Football bringing hope to Romanian children

The Romanian Football Federation (FRF) has launched a special scheme to help abandoned and underprivileged children in the country's capital Bucharest.

The project, spanning a six-month period and engaging some 500 children aged between seven and 14, will give youngsters the opportunity to receive football coaching and take part in a special tournament played out on local mini-pitches.

The FRF is carrying out the programme in partnership with local councils in various areas of Bucharest (the fifth district, in particular), as well as the national schools authority and the Policy Centre for Roma and Minorities, with which the national football body has worked successfully for years.

More than 25 local schools will participate in the initiative, which is aimed at children living in social and residential centres, plus those living below the poverty line or in single-parent families.

PE teachers from the schools involved will assemble squads of 12 children corresponding to those criteria and they will have daily training sessions. At the end of each week, they will play six or seven-a-side games on mini-pitches measuring 20m by 40m. There will be teams for boys aged 7–9, 10–11 and 12–14 and for girls aged 11–14.

Every child will be allocated playing kit and training kit from the FRF, and every team ten balls and 12 bibs. The PE teachers will get a supplementary payment from the local council, and will enjoy the assistance and advice of national youth-team coaches and several former Romanian internationals currently working for the FRF, such as Miodrag Belodedici, Daniel Prodan and Ion Vlădoiu.

The project will also be rolled out in four more regions of Romania (Alba, Valcea, Bacau and Satu Mare) where another 500 children in the same situation will be invited to take part. It may reach even further afield in the future.

Owing to the global economic crisis, more than 2 million Romanians now work abroad, with many leaving their children behind in Romania to be raised by relatives – and some abandoning them altogether. The hope of the FRF is that the scheme will help these youngsters integrate more easily into society.