In Strasbourg, an interfaith football match to teach a lesson in living together

“Football and us peace”. This is the slogan of the friendly match organized by Sid Cheaibi, sports director of the International Meinau Academy club. Through the festive meeting, this man wanted to unite people of different religions around a common ground, football. The objective of the project: to promote living together.

The idea for this interfaith football game was born when Sid Cheaibi realized that his club was standing 400 meters from three places of worship: a synagogue, a church and a mosque. Following this, the sports director launched the steps with the heads of local worship to organize this event. “I know that at the moment there are a lot of divisions, especially in political debates. So we said to ourselves that we could demonstrate the opposite on the ground by proving that between the communities things are going really well. we want to show that there is the possibility of achieving great things “, explains Sid Cheaibi, initiator of the project.

The teams are made up of 15 players over 35, divided equally according to their religious affiliation. A choice wanted by the organizer who wants the “seniors show the example to young people”. In this desire to bring together as many people as possible, Sid Cheaibi wanted women to also take part in the matches. With the integration of a female referee trio, they are the ones who lead the game.

This first edition, which brought together Christians, Jews and Muslims under the blue-white-red colors, aims to be repeated in the future. During the next meetings Sid Cheaibi wants to integrate even more religious communities.