SCOTLAND have another chance to triumph in a football tournament this summer – as amateur teams follow in the bootsteps of the Euro 2020 nations.
Players from as many as 50 nations will take part in a “unique” contest to be held in Euro 2020 host city Glasgow this August.
The one-day “celebration of the beautiful game” has been organised by the Scottish Unity Football League, which promotes prejudice-free sport for “New Scots and Scots born here alike”. This includes asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and more.
The 24 teams taking part in the Refugee Festival Football Tournament 2021 will draw names to determine which country they will play as. Organisers have chosen nations competing at Euro 2020 – and say “even if Scotland didn’t make it out of the group stages of the Uefa event, they could still clinch this cup”.
The tournament comes 20 years after the establishment of the league, which includes players hailing “from Afghanistan to Zambia”, and is described as being part of the Uefa spectacle’s legacy.
Those who have broken through to professional status include brothers Karamoko and Siriki Dembele of Celtic and Peterborough, Brian Graham of Partick Thistle and Islam Feruz, formerly of Chelsea.
The seven-a-side tournament, which is backed by Glasgow Life, the Scottish Refugee Council and the Sports Council for Glasgow, was initially supposed to be held last year. But, as with Euro 2020, it was pushed back by the pandemic.
The league has been staging a tournament as part of the Refugee Festival Scotland every year since 2012, with Police Scotland and local politicians amongst those entering teams.
This year’s action will take place in the city’s Toryglen area, close to national stadium Hampden.
League chairman Abdul Bostani said: “We’ve had the biggest football event in Europe in our back garden. Our teams are inspired by what they’ve seen and it’s time for the Scottish Unity Football League to get back to what we love best – bringing people together on the pitch, no matter who they are or where they come from. This is a gesture of celebration for communities and for Euro 2020.”
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