Norway Cup 2012 will be held from 27 July to 4 August 2012 in Oslo. The hosts, Bækkelagets Sportsklub and Dagbladet have the great pleasure of inviting your team to Norway Cup. Vietnamese teams that might be interested in participating: please read more about the tournament here or on Norway Cup’s official website. Registration deadline is 16 April, 2012.
Vietnamese all-girls football team at Norway Cup last summer
Vietnamese youth have previously travelled to Oslo for Norway Cup on several occasions; last year Football For All Vietnam (FFAV) sent a team that made their way to the play-offs.
Kids playing football through the FFAV programme in Hue, November 2011. Photo: Balder VestadThe participating FFAV team last year was an under-14 girls’ team, consisting of girls from all nine districts of the Hue province. The girls were selected not based on their football skills, but on their school absence, football interest, suitability as role models and social skills. When arriving in Norway, the girls travelled to the southern town of Kragerø, where they stayed with Norwegian host families.
Focus on gender equality
It was not a coincidence that it was a girls’ team travelling to Norway last year – FFAV have always had an explicit focus on girl participation. When the project set up in Hue in 2003, hardly any girls played organized football. Now all 108 member clubs (with over 10.700 players) have at least 50 percent girl players on their teams. FFAV is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).
More than football
Football For All Vietnam projects in Vietnam use football as a basis to teach children and adults life skills related to topics such as HIV/AIDS, sanitation, environment, and safety issues related to unexploded remnants of war. FFAV also has a strong focus on including people from traditionally marginalized groups; physically and mentally disabled, ethnic minorities, street children, children living in families with HIV/AIDS etc.
This summer, some lucky and well-deserving kids partaking in FFAV will take the long journey west to play, compete and enjoy themselves at Ekebergsletta, Oslo during Norway Cup; hopefully other Vietnamese teams will take the opportunity to follow.