Farewell event held for young Victorians Luca Durso and Noah Borg.
On Saturday 2nd June, the Australian delegation heading to Moscow for the Gazprom International Children’s social programme Football for Friendship (F4F) held a farewell event at Melbourne Zoo for its young Ambassadors Luca Durso and Noah Borg.
The 2018 Football for Friendship programme is transforming a FIFA World Cup dream into reality for Luca Durso and Noah Borg, both aged 12, who leave for Russia on Thursday on an all expenses paid trip to represent Australia at the F4F programme.
Members of the delegation and their families took part in the farewell event supporting rare and endangered animal species in line with Football For Friendship’s ecologocial initiative within its educational and humanitarian mission.
Taking place in Moscow, Russia on 8-15 June and ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, F4F is an annual International Children’s social programme organized by Gazprom, an international company supporting global social projects and setting new standards in relation to social policy. The aim of the programme is to promote essential values embodied by football with the younger generation such as respect for other cultures and nationalities as well as equality.
In order to promote the defense of wildlife and to increase interest of new generations in conservation and protection of the world fauna, 32 football Teams of Friendship have been named after rare and endangered species of animals. Teams were formed on the principle of friendship that allows children of different nationalities and cultures to find common language, learn to make compromises and achieve victories together.
Luca Durso will represent Australia as a Player in the African Wild Dog team while Noah Borg will attend as a Young Journalist. They will join other 12-year-old football players and journalists from 211 countries and regions to participate in the 8-day programme.
This opportunity is the result of the terrific ongoing football partnership with Football For Friendship (RUS) and Lengo Football Academy (AUS).
At Melbourne Zoo, you can meet over 300 different species from around the world, only minutes from the Melbourne City Centre. For more information on Melbourne Zoo visit https://www.zoo.org.au/melbourne
BACKGROUND
Since 2013, PJSC Gazprom has been organizing the International Children’s social programme Football for Friendship. The key values promoted by the programme participants include friendship, equality, fairness, health, peace, devotion, victory, tradition and honour. The participants are Young Players (girls and boys, including those physically challenged), as well as Young Journalists covering the F4F events within the framework of the Football for Friendship International Children’s Press Center. Geographical scope of the programme expands annually: from 8 countries in 2013 to 211 countries in 2018. For the past five years, more than 3,700 people have participated in the programme. Football for Friendship is supported by FIFA, UEFA, International Olympic Committee, football federations of various countries, international children's charity funds, and world's leading football clubs.
F4F Photo and video materials: http://media.footballforfriendship.com
F4F Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FootballForFriendship
F4F Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/FOOTBALL4FRIENDSHIP
F4F Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/footballforfriendship
F4F Twitter: https://twitter.com/football4f
F4F website: https://www.gazprom-football.com/en/home.htm