Elma Saiz será la madrina del Partido Inclusivo de fútbol de este año, que se celebra mañana entre el Atlético de Madrid y el Lille

The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, will be the godmother of this year’s Inclusive Football Match, which will be held tomorrow Wednesday from 9 p.m. at the Civitas Metropolitano stadium between Atlético de Madrid and Lille, within the framework of the qualifying phase of the UEFA Champions League. Saiz has defended “the enormous transformative power of sport for our society.” In addition, in the coming days an Agreement will be signed with LALIGA that will reinforce their mutual commitment in the fight against hate speech in sport.

The objective of the Inclusive Party, organized in collaboration with the NGO Integrated Dreams, is to give visibility and draw attention to the importance of making football stadiums a space accessible to everyone and in all senses. Last year, it was an official LALIGA match between Real Betis Balompié and Real Valladolid that was attended by 1,740 people with functional diversity.

“Football – and sport in general, as we saw this summer at the European Championship, and at the Olympic and Paralympic Games – is a very powerful loudspeaker capable of reaching millions of people and raising awareness of the importance of combating racism, xenophobia and, in general, against any hate speech; also to promote inclusion in all its aspects,” explained Minister Saiz.

“We are building partnerships that elevate sport to a higher level: inclusion, tolerance and anti-racism,” he said. Among the projects led by the Ministry of Inclusion and which take sport as a fundamental tool to promote social inclusion, the SCORE project stands out, which is led by the Ministry itself through the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia, and to which LALIGA has recently joined. The Score Project is a European project that brings together European cities and local entities for the promotion of inclusive sport, as well as the prevention and fight against racism and xenophobia in the sports field.

Five keys of the Agreement with LALIGA

The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, LALIGA and the LALIGA Foundation, will sign a collaboration agreement with the aim of strengthening their joint commitment in the fight against hate speech in sport. This strategic alliance will allow the development of specific actions to monitor, prevent and raise awareness about hate speech in the sports field, especially in social networks where this type of content is multiplied exponentially.

The ministry, LALIGA and the LALIGA Foundation will maintain an active collaboration, sharing relevant information, providing mutual support and providing the necessary resources through effective cooperation.

For its part, the Ministry, through the Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia, OBERAXE, assumes the commitment to continue actively monitoring hate speech on social networks, with particular attention to the detection and reporting of content that promotes racial, xenophobic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and anti-Gypsy hatred. In addition, it is committed to collaborating in the creation and promotion of joint communication and awareness campaigns.

Within the framework of this agreement, LALIGA is committed to ceding to the ministry the use of its tool MOOD (Monitor for the Observation of Hatred in Sport) for monitoring hate speeches on social networks. The organization will also invite the ministry to participate in institutional, educational or awareness-raising events that LALIGA organizes on the fight against hate speech.

In addition, the LALIGA Foundation will make available to the ministry the pedagogical materials of the Futura Afición project aimed at sensitizing young people about the importance of eradicating violence in sport, especially in football.

“We want a society free of hate speech and that’s why it’s important to have key players like LALIGA. Undoubtedly, this agreement that we signed today will help us in this. It is time to say loud and clear and without nuances: no to racism, xenophobia and intolerance of any kind. No hatred,” said Minister Elma Saiz.