AS AWARDS: ‘The football we want’

“The football we want is…”. Atlético, through the initiative We love football, invites all the protagonists of the sport to this reflection so that they can contribute proposals to achieve it. A football where diversity, inclusion, respect and tolerance prevail. For its search, the entity aims to unite as many as the merrier for the cause.. Clubs, organizations, media and fans. And use the enormous speaker that sport represents. Especially thinking about the youngest. For all this, the club will receive the first AS Deporte en Positivo Awardcreated to distinguish social initiatives that raise awareness of these values.

“What the club is proposing is very good. I hope all sectors join in to help and thus, all together, have the football that we want and that we seek”, encouraged Simeone in a recent press conference. On Atlético’s part, a series of initiatives have been promoted, different in their content but converging on this same goal: the fight against bullying, against racism, against any type of discrimination and in favor of inclusion. “Respect and tolerance are fundamental and together we must ensure that they are two pillars of football,” adds Miguel Ángel Gil.

For example, The club’s Become a defense against bullying campaign has had a long journey beyond the red and white environment. In the ads, created by the Mrs. Rushmore agency, a boy and a girl dressed in Savic and Giménez’s shirts, respectively, they intervene to help colleagues who are suffering from bullying. That is to say, the project does not focus so much on the figure of the harasser, but on those around him: “Without an environment to protect him, the bully loses his strength”. These videos, for example, have been used in Police talks.

On the other hand, the footballers Giménez and Maitane have also participated in talks whose central message is that of not to remain impassive in the face of bullying and that will continue in 2024: Against bullying, courage and heart. In addition, the entity has invited more than 1,000 educational centers to live an awareness-raising experience in Territorio Atletiwith specialist psychologists.

Football is a reflection of life and society and, therefore, The campaign is oriented above all to what happens outside the stadiums, but also inside. “A child does not go to the field to boo or insult. He does it because his father, his friends or those around him do it. The little ones see us, they look at us and then they copy. Sometimes you see things on TV and it makes you angry. We have that small power to reach people more and it is very important,” explains Griezmann.

The fight against racism is another of the pillars of We Love Football and one of the fundamental topics in the talks to the players of the Academy. Together we are better is one of the mottos used. “Our commitment seeks to educate young people with such important values ​​as education, tolerance and inclusion,” summarizes Enrique Cerezo.

Atleti’s commitment to what these terms represent is total, and that is why the club, or its Foundationpromote projects such as LaLiga Genuine, for boys and girls with intellectual disabilities, social schools and therapeutic football, together with the Querer Foundation, which works on the inclusion of people in sports activities to help them reach their maximum potential in the face of a full and active life: “For a world in which we all fit”. In parallel, the entity carries out campaigns such as autism awareness, in which Oblak participated along with Guille, goalkeeper of the Genuine team; collaborations with the Foundation A world without complaints, “to raise awareness among young people about the importance of being grateful and looking for opportunities in difficult times“.

Atlético is the promoter of We Love Footballthe umbrella that covers all these initiatives, but it is not a closed and exclusive project. Quite the opposite. The entity wants to open it to all interested parties. Any situation is good to propose the project and reach out.. At board meetings, for example. But it’s also for fans. In fact, on the We Love Football website, there is a space enabled for anyone interested to contribute their idea. Everything to find the football we want…