RFEF celebrates World Down Syndrome Day
The Spanish Under-21 national team are to take advantage of this Friday's match against the Czech Republic to get involved with various initiatives in order to raise awareness and promote inclusion.
Since 2011 and as a result of the decision of the United Nations General Assembly, World Down Syndrome Day has been celebrated every 21 March as a global date to raise awareness to promote the inclusion of people with this genetic disorder.
The choice of this date, used in reference to the 3rd chromosome 21, coincides with the Spanish under-21 national team's match against the Czech Republic at the Francisco Artés Carrasco stadium in Lorca, during which the players will raise awareness of this cause.
In the training session prior to the match, international footballers Mikel Jauregizar and Alberto Moleiro wanted to pose for the camera with their odd socks, a global symbol of the defence of diversity on an important date such as this one.
In addition, Sergio Quirce, RFEF worker and star of the ‘Uno+’ campaign, through which the Federation has striven to join in with such a campaign, will accompany the refereeing team at the start of the match. Likewise, the match mascots accompanying the players will be boys and girls with Down's Syndrome.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation is actively involved in the inclusion of people with Down's Syndrome and people with disabilities in the workplace. For this reason, with this initiative, it wanted to show the daily work of people like Sergio, whose seamless integration into the federation's work serves as an example of the outstanding ability of such people to carry out the most varied tasks within a professional setting.
Like Sergio Quirce, who is a regular contributor to the national team's press conferences, other children, men and women from the Down Lorca and APANDIS Lorca associations will join in the events planned for the events in the Murcian town as a way of highlighting the daily work of such people, as well as the need to strengthen support networks for them and their families to improve their quality of life, taking advantage of the celebration of World Down Syndrome Day on 21 March.