Tbilisi football festival brings together Ukrainian, Georgian children, underprivileged youth

Football for Everyone, a three-day festival in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, brought together Ukrainian children stranded in the country due to the conflict in their homeland, as well as ethnic minorities and minors from children’s homes across Georgia between Friday and Sunday.

The Georgian football federation said it had organised the event together with the non-governmental organisation For Healthy and Bright Future, with the young participants hosted at the Nutsubidze Plateau Football Centre for the competition.

Photo: Georgian Football Federation

The team from the western Georgian village of Ghvankiti won the first place in the festival, with their counterparts from the western city of Kutaisi and Tbilisi’s Caritas children’s home and daycare centre finishing second and third.

Photo: Georgian Football Federation

Project head Nikoloz Kapanadze said it had been drawn up to make football more accessible in various regions of the country.

Photo: Georgian Football Federation

During the festival, children are given an opportunity to live together and make new friends - [the project] is a good chance for them to make football a way of life. Currently 300 children are involved, with 100 more soon to be given an opportunity to join the team”, Kapanadze said.

Football for Everyone has been implemented throughout Georgia since 2016 with full financial support of the football federation.