EUROPEADA (28 June to 7 July 2024) is already receiving support from the South Schleswig Committee and the Region of Southern Denmark. And now the European Minority Football Championship can look forward to more support from the Danish side. The four municipalities in Southern Jutland, which are hosting the venues and hosted the draw, are also ready with financial support.
Aabenraa Municipality, Haderslev Municipality, Sønderborg Municipality and Tønder Municipality each donate DKK 75,000.
"We are incredibly happy and grateful for this," says Ruwen Möller, project manager for EUROPEADA.
On 10 December, a draw was held at Sydbank Parken in Haderslev. And this summer, games will be played on the Danish side of the border in Aabenraa, Kruså. Sønderborg and Tønder. In addition, the so-called Culture Day (3 July) will be held in Knivsbjerg.
"We are really pleased to be able to help focus on the culture that we - also - have in Southern Jutland. And there are few things that bring people together like a good football match - I'm certainly looking forward to cheering along", says Mads Skau (photo), Mayor of Haderslev Municipality, who was involved in the draw and afterwards called the event a great success.
The same goes for Jan Riber Jakobsen. The mayor of Aabenraa Municipality says:
"In Aabenraa Municipality, we are very proud to be one of the host municipalities for this year's EUROPEADA. The border country and cross-border cooperation is something that is important to us every single day, and our geographical location as a border municipality is something that we see as an advantage and that we proudly utilise the potentials and synergies of. I'm looking forward to the football festival that awaits us this summer, and I hope that many guests will visit the pitches in Aabenraa Municipality to watch."
"In Sønderborg Municipality, we are very happy to be part of EUROPEADA, where minorities meet for sports and show valuable coexistence. EUROPEADA is also an event with many participants and spectators in our Danish-German border region, which will draw attention to the region and hopefully attract more tourists, which we all want," says Erik Lauritzen, Mayor of Sønderborg Municipality.And Jørgen Popp Petersen, Mayor of Tønder Municipality, agrees:
"There is hardly anything that can bring people together like sport can.Here we are all different, but at the same time we are all equal.That's what football and sport in general can do. That's why we in Tønder are looking forward to hosting not only a great sporting event, but an equally great celebration of the diversity of minorities."
Photo: Martin Ziemer/FUEN