Muhamed Bešić helps BiH homeless futsal team travel to World Cup again this year

The BiH homeless futsal team is participating in the World Cup again this year, and just like several times before, our national football player Muhamed Bešić helped the homeless travel to the World Cup, which is being held in Norway this year (Oslo, 28 August – 6 September 2017).

Continuous support for the national team is provided by BiH national player Muhamed Bešić, who is also an ambassador for MFS-EMMAUS, then the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina (N/FS BiH), the Football Association of Tuzla Canton (NS Tuzlaskog kantona), the Mayor of Doboj Obren Petrović, and the Mayor of Gračanica Municipality Nusret Helić. Support for the project has also been extended by Premier League clubs FK Sarajevo and NK Široki Brijeg, BiH national players Vedad Ibišević, Emir Spahić and Asmir Begović, BiH handball player Dejan Malinović, and others.

This year, concrete and the greatest assistance to the project was provided by Muhamed Bešić (who paid for the plane tickets for the entire team to travel to Oslo), then the Mayor of Doboj Obren Petrović and the Mayor of Gračanica Nusret Helić, the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina (N/FS BiH), Doboj Istok Municipality, the Football Association of Tuzla Canton (NS Tuzlaskog kantona), and OAZA Tešanj (who helped with preparations, player documentation, and procurement of sports equipment).

- The continuous help from Muhamed Bešić to our project, the BiH homeless futsal team, is something that motivates all of us working at MFS-EMMAUS. But his support is far more significant in the context of our care for all users of our services. I am not only referring to the young people involved in this project as players, but also to a number of other vulnerable groups in our society whom we help and work with through our activities.

First and foremost, I am thinking of the 438 users in our reception center Duje in Klokotnica, whom Muhamed visited, which is when his love for MFS-EMMAUS and them was born. They often remember him, ask about him, and write him poems for his birthday. They received the news of his suspension with great regret, but they are convinced that it will only motivate him to play even better and achieve greater success. Behind his soldier-like demeanor lies a generosity and care for people that cannot go unrewarded.

By helping to finance the players' plane tickets to the World Cup in Oslo, Muhamed also encourages the public to talk about the problems of young people, treats them as his fellow national team players and ambassadors of BiH, motivates them not to feel inferior, thereby giving them motivation for better results and changes in their lives.

They, nor we at MFS-EMMAUS, will never forget it, say MFS-EMMAUS, from where they also sent a message to Bešić, which reads:

"GOOD IS REPAID WITH BETTER - MUME, THANK YOU!" THE BiH HOMELESS FUTSAL TEAM. 

Incidentally, the association "International Forum of Solidarity-EMMAUS" (MFS-EMMAUS) from Doboj Istok, as a partner of the "Homeless World Cup" (HWC) organization from Scotland and the main implementer of the "BiH homeless futsal team" project, has been actively working on the realization of this project since September 2011.

From then until now, the BiH homeless team has participated in five World Cups (Mexico 2012, Poland 2013, Chile 2014, Netherlands 2015, and Scotland 2016), achieving their greatest success by winning the title of World Vice-Champions at the championship in Chile.

The participants in the project, i.e., the players, are young people from socially vulnerable and marginalized groups in our society. Among them are the homeless, displaced persons, children without parental care, users accommodated in collective and refugee settlements, members of minorities, etc.

A greater result than the competition itself, which is the ultimate goal of the project, are the positive experiences and encounters that have changed the players' lives, making them feel proud as representatives and ambassadors of their country, even though they live on the margins of BiH society.