PARIS (AP) — Instead of having names on their jerseys, soccer players from Toulouse and Lorient will have pictograms of different disabilities during their Ligue 1 game on Saturday.
The measure is part of a French soccer league awareness campaign aimed at providing better long-term stadium facilities for people with disabilities. Seven disabilities feature on the pictograms: visual, cognitive, hearing, intellectual, debilitating illnesses, motor and intellectual.
“This design embodies a collective commitment to the inclusion and visibility of people with disabilities,” the Ligue de Football Professionnel said Tuesday in a statement. “The seven pictograms form the central part of the awareness campaign deployed around the match.”
Saturday’s game will have an accessible shuttle service for people with disabilities; an AD (audio description) service; visual help devices, and spaces specifically designed for those with sensory and autistic disability, with dedicated staff on site.
The 33,000-seater Stadium de Toulouse’s forecourt will also be transformed into an awareness space, the LFP added.
The event is called “Most Inclusive Match” and is being organized by the LFP in conjunction with Spain-based events planner World Football Summit and Portugal-based Integrated Dreams, a non-profit association working for the inclusion of disabled people in the sports industry.
Toulouse is the first French club to host the event, which has been held at soccer clubs in Spain over the past three years by Real Betis, Atlético Madrid and Real Sociedad.
Prior to Saturday’s match itself, awareness campaigns and a disability-focused job fair will take place. A Toulouse business school is hosting a conference focusing on inclusion and innovation in education and business, followed by workshops. Several associations are offering introductory sessions about blind soccer and wheelchair rugby, which both featured at the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024.
Toulouse and Lorient players will then enter the field of play for Saturday’s game accompanied by children with disabilities and able-bodied children, reinforcing the message of inclusion.
A ceremonial kickoff is to be performed by two-time Paralympic badminton champion Lucas Mazur and 21-year-old French actress Mayane, who has Down syndrome. They are event ambassadors.
“Football is the most popular sport in the world because, in theory, everyone can play it and everyone can enjoy it. Yet the reality is that millions of people with disabilities still cannot access a live match,” said Marian Otamendi, the WFS co-founder and CEO. “The Most Inclusive Match was created to tackle many barriers still preventing people with disabilities from fully experiencing football.” ___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
