SWIFT Hesperange and ELA: joining forces to make a difference

 

Partnership Agreement

Between

SWIFT Hesperange and ELA Luxembourg

 

Luxembourg, 21 October 2020 : SWIFT Hesperange and ELA Luxembourg are joining forces in a partnership unique in Luxembourg, in which the club commits human, logistical and financial resources to help the association carry out its missions over the long term, including public awareness-raising, which makes it possible to fund research programmes through the donations collected.

At their joint press conference, SWIFT Hesperange and ELA Luxembourg asbl announced the signing of a partnership unique in Luxembourg, aimed at raising public awareness of disability and solidarity in sport. The purpose of this agreement is to formalise and detail the basis of the SWIFT teams’ human, logistical and financial support for ELA, such as:

  • The ELA logo on the warm-up jersey of the men’s first senior team: The Swift hopes in this way to increase ELA’s visibility and public awareness, and thus enable more donations to be collected to fund research programmes or clinical trials.

 

  • The club’s participation in the “Wear Your Trainers” operation: To support ELA Luxembourg’s fight against leukodystrophies. An operation for everyone (companies, clubs, schools, the public), turnkey, tailor-made, constraint-free, simple, fun and unifying, which this year evolves with the possibility of taking part via the “Wear Your Trainers” app, available free of charge on Apple and Android.

 

  • The launch of a “company tournament”: 32 companies form men’s, women’s and/or mixed teams of 10 players, divided into 4 groups, who compete outdoors on half-pitches during the international breaks until the final, which will take place as a curtain-raiser to an official SWIFT match at the Alphonse Theis stadium. On this occasion, the teams will have the chance to face a team made up of ELA ambassadors as well as teams of former professional footballers from France, Belgium and Germany. The registration fee covers all logistics, catering, personalised kits and a donation to ELA Luxembourg. The tournament will take place over several days at the

 

  • The setting up of a “Teqball inter-company tournament” in aid of ELA Luxembourg in September 2021. A table is made available to companies throughout the year for initiation and selection of teams, who will compete in a final phase organised at the start of summer

 

  • The creation of an e-sports team by SWIFT Hesperange: in line with the growth of online sports, SWIFT is creating its team to take part in the various competitions organised at European level and aims to launch its own streaming tournament, with the participation of one or more of the association’s ambassadors, during which the donations collected will be passed on to ELA Luxembourg.

 

The partnership is designed to last, and the operations carried out jointly are expected to multiply as initiatives, ideas and opportunities arise.

More than anyone, footballers, as top-level athletes, are very sensitive to disability and to the need to take care of one’s “human capital”, to develop and maintain it. As a player in sport and youth, Swift Hesperange wants to raise public awareness of the benefits of sport, but also of disability and difference, and to promote a spirit of solidarity, mutual aid and respect for differences.

 

Fernand LAROCHE (President of Swift Hesperange): “Our aim is to make as many people as possible aware of the benefits of sport and solidarity in everyone’s daily life. We want to be part of this very hard fight against the disease, and to help reduce the time that separates ELA from a certain victory. The club already has several ambassadors of the association who embody all these values that we wish to promote and pass on. Supporting ELA Luxembourg means engaging all of the club’s members, partners, supporters and athletes in a solidarity-based, lasting approach to make a difference. We have that power, we only have to want it, and at SWIFT, we do!”

 

Jean-Paul FRIEDRICH, President of ELA Luxembourg: “Today, on the threshold of the first therapeutic treatments, more than ever, every gesture counts in defeating leukodystrophies. Some have more impact and are accelerators that fill us with hope. Feeling an entire club behind us makes us stronger and more resilient. This partnership, unique in Luxembourg, will help us raise awareness among more people; it is a tremendous opportunity to make leukodystrophies known to the general public as well as to scientific communities.”