The Spanish National Team stands shoulder to shoulder with flood victims in Valencia
Spain will kick off 2025 by playing against Belgium at the Ciutat de València to show its support for all those affected by last October's floods. Among the initiatives, the invitation to the match to clubs and representatives of the affected areas, a solidarity fan zone, the sale of t-shirts with the slogan the We Play For You (Jugamos por vosotr@s) next to the stadium and the meeting of the children of these areas with the internationals of the national team.
The Spanish national team, reigning World Cup and the Nations League champions, begin 2025 with their sights set on their participation in the EUROS to be held this summer in Switzerland. Montse Tomé's side kick off the competition with two demanding opponents in England and Belgium. Before the Belgians, at home, Spain will also make a big push in terms of solidarity and social commitment, after the RFEF Board of Directors chose the city of Valencia as the venue for Spain's first international matches of the new year.
Spain is turning its attention to those affected by the floods that devastated the Valencian region last October, running several solidarity initiatives in the days and weeks prior, but also on matchday itself at the Ciutat de València.
Montse Tomé travelled to Paiporta on 12 February to announce her first squad of the year. There she was able to share a meeting with children from one of the affected schools. In addition, in the ‘fan zone’ that has been installed in Valencia with an interactive mural has been set up so that everyone can send their message of thanks to the volunteers who took part in the initial reconstruction work.
And two T-shirt stands next to the stadium will allow anyone who wishes to do so to buy the ‘Jugamos por vosotr@s’ (We Play For You) T-shirt. This T-shirt, as was the case in November with the Spanish men's national team, will be worn by the Spanish players during the warm-up at the Ciutat de València this Friday, 21 February, before the match against Belgium. And a large banner in the centre of the pitch will display the same message message ‘We play for you’ before kick-off. This message will also be displayed during the match on the scoreboards and on the pitch-side advertising.
For the match, in addition, the Royal Spanish Football Federation has invited the mayors of all the towns affected by the storms, and the non-professional clubs of Valencia that play in those towns will also attend after being invited by the RFEF.
Beforehand, the children from these areas will be the stars of the show and will be able to participate in the traditional ‘meet&greet’ held with a representation of the international players of the Spanish national team. And, once again, the children will be the stars when they take the pitch with the players of both teams.
All this, framed in a sense of solidarity and social responsibility that the Royal Spanish Football Federation promotes, as well as what is at all its national team matches, will count among its volunteers people of diverse abilities and the match will be narrated with audio description for people with visual impairments.
More related news
To mark The International Day against LGTB-phobia in sport, football and the Spanish National Team, with the voice of the World Champion Ona Batlle as their spokesperson, express their condemnation of any gestures or acts that attack people because of their sexual orientation.