The Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina made a reception for a part of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian delegation of the project Football for Friendship, Aiman Šemdin, a young footballer - a midfielder of FK Željezničar from Sarajevo. The reason for this is the preparations for going to the World Championship of Football for Friendship in Moscow. The international socially responsible project for children, Football for Friendship, launched and organized by the Gazprom Company – the official partner of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia – will have its finals in Moscow from 8th to 15th June this year. Marko Stjepanović, a young journalist and footballer of OFK Lauš from Banja Luka, will also travel to Moscow and he will report from Moscow.
Adnan Džemidžić, the FF BH executive director of the administration sector, said after today’s reception: “We are happy to have representatives from our country at such event. The Football Federation of BH has always had a feeling for socially responsible projects, and now we will give our full support to our representatives at the World Championship of Football for Friendship.”
“Impatience is growing day by day, the feeling is great and I am very proud to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am particularly grateful to my coach and club, because they recommended me and now, thanks to the Football Federation of BH, for a great support and gifts that I will be glad of the comrades whom I will meet in Russia. I look forward to having fun with Mark, and I know that we share the same love for football and I am sure we will present our country in the best way”, said Aiman Šemdin.
“I have prepared myself, and I still am very nervous, because there will be a lot of Aiman’s and my peers, but also the big world football stars. However, I’m completely sure that Aiman and I will do our best and be at the highest level of tasks during all events in Russia. I’m can hardly wait a start of the World Championship of Football for Friendship and then the Friendship Camp, and I’m looking forward to all of it”, said Marko Stjepanović.
Both young BH representatives, along with four other members of the BH delegation of the project Football for Friendship, will attend a match that will open the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia between Russia and Saudi Arabia on 14th June at 17:00 h.
A representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Aiman Šemdin, will play as the midfielder of the Friendship Whale Shark Team with young male and female footballers from Brunei, Cape Verde Islands, Maldives, Honduras and Lebanon.
This year also, the International Children’s Media Centre will gather talented twelve year olds - young correspondents from 211 countries and regions of the world, among which will be our representative Marko Stjepanović.
In addition to numerous activities within the framework of the project - Football for Friendship Tour, our representatives will also participate at the Sixth International Forum of Football for Friendship - during which they will exchange ideas on new ways to promote the project’s core values around the globe. During the International Friendship Camp, young footballers - led by young coaches and supervised by celebrated world football stars - will attend courses on the core values of the project within the School of Nine Values, recommended by the United Nations as an educational program of a unique character.
The Gazprom’s socially responsible program also launched the Ecological Initiative within its educational and humanitarian mission. Young ambassadors of the program and companions of the Football for Friendship participated at the HAPPY BUZZ DAY event, providing support to rare and endangered species of animals such as Amur Tiger, Red Panda, Baltic Sea Calf, Big Parrot and Red Lemur, one of Madagascar’s largest lemurs. The reserves of rare species of animals from Nepal, the United States and Russia have joined the ecological mission.
Event name was not selected by chance: on this day last year, a lemur named Buzz was born in the Duke Lemur Centre of the Lemur Reserve. This year, he became the symbol of the ecological mission of the Football for Friendship program. The campaign was joined by Red Panda Network from Nepal, Amur Tiger Centre and Friends of the Baltic Sea Calf Foundation from Russia. Numerous environmental campaigns and marathons have been launched around the world within the framework of the Football Friendly Ecological Initiative.
The Ecological Initiative of the Football for Friendship Program includes 32 International Friendship Teams that carry the names of endangered animal species of our planet. A total of 211 countries and regions of the world have been included in the project activities this year - and the final manifestations of the program will be held in Moscow from June 8th to 15th June.
HISTORY OF THE PROJECT
Since 2013, PJSC Gazprom has been organizing the international children’s socially responsible project “Football for Friendship”. The basic values of the project promoted by its participants are friendship, equality, fair play, health, peace, dedication, winning spirit, tradition and honour. Participants are young players - boys and girls, including children with disabilities - as well as young journalists covering the events of the program within the International Children's Media Centre project. The geographical aspect of the project evolved from year to year - from eight countries in 2013 to 211 countries and regions in 2018. Over the past five years, more than 3,700 people took part in the project. Football for Friendship is officially supported by FIFA, UEFA, the International Olympic Committee, football federations of several countries, international children’s humanitarian organizations and funds and the world’s leading football clubs.
