My Game

Eniola Aluko (footballer, England): For me, football is a gift. I grew up playing football not really knowing how I was good or why I was good at football. In my local area, there were a lot of boys, so for me, football was my quickest way of being accepted. Playing the game was to be accepted amongst boys, and then I quickly became the girl that was better than the boys. So, it became an identity for me, playing football, being cool because I could play, and the boys thought I was cool because I could play. So, from a young age, even though I’m different from the boys, or different in terms of my background, it’s something that actually became acceptance.

Maxwell (assistant sporting director, Brazil): Football brings everybody together. There’s no difference between boys or girls, rich or poor, everybody has a ball, everybody can play on the streets. I come from a culture where everybody loves to play football and this is something that impressed me. The purity of the game and the passion of the game brings people together.

Vaclav Sindelar (massage therapist, Czech Republic): Football is accessible to everyone, all over the world, regardless of race, age… It’s accessible to children, the middle aged, adults, pensioners, all people around the world together. More than anything else, it gives me optimism and energy in my life. This is something we blind people need a lot.

Denis Glushakov (footballer, Russia): I think football is the most popular sport that can be played anywhere. On the streets, at home, everyone can play it. And it’s good for your health. It’s better to go outside to run and play rather than sit inside at the PC or play a console. Of course, everyone plays FIFA but it’s better to play for real.

Moussa Dembele (footballer, France): I learned almost everything I know through football. It taught me a lot of things in terms of acting as a man, as a human being and as a footballer too. It really means a lot to me.

Giorgio Chiellini (footballer, Italy): Football is about joy, passion and also relating to others because when you’re part of a squad, you have to know how to conduct yourself and show respect to coaches, referees and your opponents. Football has so many qualities that have to taught, particularly to young children.

Alberto Botia (footballer, Spain): All over the world, football sparks passion and gives off the message that, from the first minute to the last, anything is possible. You see the passion shown by children and parents, people from all walks of life, when they go to matches, and that shows that the love of football transcends racial and national boundaries. Passion for football is everywhere.

Panagiotis “Takis” Lemonis (coach, Greece): I think that what we love about football is the unpredictability. This may be the most democratic sport. Everybody has the right to win whether you’re an amateur or professional. For 90 minutes all social differences are levelled out. We see, for example, famous lawyers or politicians who are sitting in the stands and celebrate goals. This is the magic of football.

Christian Eriksen (footballer, Denmark): I think I love everything about football. The feeling when you do what you enjoy. It’s a hobby turned into your profession. It’s the dream job that you’ve always wanted. So I think it’s a bit of everything. To get out and kick the ball around is what I enjoy.

Kolo Touré (coach, Côte d’Ivoire): I was playing on the street. I had no Playstation before, football was my Playstation. I had to go outside, one of my friends had a ball, there was 50 of us because none of us had a Playstation at home. You had to just play. That’s why football is everything to me.

Stiliyan Petrov (former player, Bulgaria): I’ve lived and grown with football. I’ve loved everything: being able to train, kick a ball, develop as a footballer and as a person, because people don’t realise that football teaches a lot of lessons - good lessons and bad lessons. As long as we remember the good ones, because after bad ones good ones follow… In the end, if you make better choices and you’ve learnt from the bad lessons, than you’ve done well.

Lala Yeritsyan (FFA, Armenia): Football is very important to me as it’s the number one sport, not only in Armenia, but across the world. A small ball is able to unite people from different cultures and backgrounds. It’s about the amazing atmospheres, fascinating games, fascinating people, international relations and people coming together. That’s football.

Ani (student, Armenia): It was very hard for me to come to play football, but it was because of the coaches that I came to play. Since childhood, I have loved and dreamed of playing football. When my coaches came and found me, they had a shortage of goalkeepers in their team and asked if I would go and train. It was certainly very difficult as my parents wouldn’t allow me to, but I am here now and I really love football. I always dreamed of playing and now my dream has come true.

Nadine Kessler (UEFA, Germany): One of my favourite memories was definitely when I scored my first goal with my boys’ team. I was probably four years old. I always used to play with boys, so it was quite a big challenge for me, however, I made it and I was successful in my first game. So it made me obviously really happy and really confident, and it reassured me to go for the sport and to be passionate for it my whole life long.

Marc ter Stegen (goalkeeper, Germany): Football brings people together. It gives everyone the same opportunity, and I think it’s how people come together all over the world. When you play on a football pitch, you play with your friends, you play with different nationalities, everyone comes together. It doesn’t matter where you come from, all that matters is who scores the most goals and who concedes least.

Luka Modrić (footballer, Croatia): I remember that, after school, the first thing I did was to go outside to play football with my friends, with my father. Being happy with the ball around, with trying to go every day and learn something new, and just being happy and enjoying playing football every day.

Djily Niang (, Senegal): Above all, I’ve learnt about fair play, which is very important to me. It’s great to play and enjoy yourself. It’s a sport which brings us all together.

Esmayil Namasparast (, Iran): I’m happy that here I don’t see a difference between the people. Everyone has the same rights and duties. I’ve seen humanity and justice, something I haven't seen in my own country.

Andriy Shevchenko (coach, Ukraine): Football is an international game; it’s accessible to all. It has nothing to do with politics or religion. It’s a game that’s accessible to all and it should be pure, not only in the top competitions but also among children. It’s competitive to a certain extent, but it’s a game. It should be accessible to all. Everyone should try to get pleasure from it, because that’s the reason we play this sport.

Dejan Stankovic (UEFA, Serbia): #EqualGame – you have to examine this message right to its core; it’s simple but powerful, and says that we all have to be equal. We have to work all together, we must play together and show love to one another. This is the most important message.

Emel Melville (student, Northern Ireland): The coaches, they all teach you loads of lessons that you’ll carry throughout your life, they taught me respect. Although I have learned respect in my home they taught me how to respect, it’s just a different kind of respect, you know? Respect for your coaches, and teammates, and they’ve also taught me how to work as a unit, and they give you some self-discipline.

Eric Abidal (former player, France): Deep down, football is still an easy game to play, it’s very accessible: all you need is a ball. Then you need to know how to share it and I still think the best place to share it is the street. We know that, in a lot of countries, players and kids in particular don’t have the best surroundings to play football in, but they make do with what they have, playing in the street for example, so it’s still an accessible sport. Other than that, it’s about being able to share it, and to learn about different cultures, particularly from foreign players. And I know that other players were able to learn from me about France and about Lyon, about its food, for example.

Henrik Larsson (coach, Sweden): I think it’s a game that brings people together; it doesn’t matter what you look like or where you’re from, whether you’re a man or a woman. You will always have somebody in your team who looks different or is from a different culture or country, so I think it’s very important, because it’s a way for humanity to start to treat each other nicely. I think that’s very important.

Khalida Popal (Girl Power Organisation, Afghanistan): It’s great, especially this campaign about respect and equality, it creates more love, friendship and also it creates discussion and ideas and brings people to think about it and think that it’s the time to be equal, it’s the time to think equal, and such a campaign, especially true for football, will impact a lot in every society. As usual, I always say that football is a great tool to empower people and bring people together, and it has only one language, and that’s love, unity and respect, especially in Europe right now we can see that more people are coming here.

Neil Mckee (club secretary, Northern Ireland): Well, football is often described as a universal language and regardless of what language people speak across the world, football gives us all the same shared joy. The [attendance and viewership] figures of the World Cup are a testament to that, as are the figures right across the world in terms of grassroots football, and the amount of people that can access football.

Senik Arakelyan (coach, Armenia): I have been in the sport for more than ten years. My day starts and ends with football, I watch football on TV, in stadiums. I cannot imagine my life without football or the activities connected to it. Football has become my life.

Bobby Barnes (FIFPRO, England): Well, I think it’s a very positive step, and I applaud the president Aleksander Čeferin for bringing UEFA forward to actually make this statement. It’s wonderful to be here today and see such great players like Paul Pogba coming along and supporting an initiative that really is important for the game.

Lou Englefield (Pride Sports, England): It’s a message on inclusion and diversity, but that’s also combined with a zero-tolerance towards discrimination as well, so it’s saying what we want to do is: we want to include everyone; we want to make everyone feel welcome; we want to tell people stories. But also, if there are problems, we will step in and take action, so good stuff.

Piara Powar (FARE, England): Well, I think this method of storytelling allows us to talk about things that otherwise people don’t want to talk about. The gay player; the refugee player; the person who’s disabled who we like to see playing, but we don’t necessarily want to run the session or be engaged or even understand how they’re going to play with one leg, for example. So, it allows us to bring difficult realities into the mainstream.

Hristijan Bozhinovski (student, FYR Macedonia): When I was little, I was watching football matches on TV. Then, I started deaf school and I saw that other (deaf students) were actually playing football. I thought, ‘how nice’! Then, I started playing football too.

Enis Asipov (student, FYR Macedonia): I love football. What is the feeling when I play? I feel happy. My heart beats stronger. It’s a good feeling.

Ruud van Nistelrooy (coach, Netherlands): A disability doesn’t mean that a person can’t function the same as a non-disabled person. I think that it doesn’t matter if you’re disabled or not. I have a niece who is severely disabled and she is an inspiration to me as well.

Dani Carvajal (footballer, Spain): I not only have the opportunity to play with people from all over the world, but I play with the best in the world. You learn from them every day: you notice everything they do and how they act. And you want to be like one of them. You also learn about values and different cultures because you share a lot of experiences in different countries. For example, this summer I went to Costa Rica because Keylor [Navas] told me to go there and said that I’d love it. So it’s a way of getting to know the world and make new friends all around the world.

Othman Mezouar (coach, Canada): Hello my name is Othman Mezouar. I am a football coach at Montreal Impact in Montreal. I am of Canadian and Moroccan origins. Why do I love football? Because it has enabled me to integrate myself well in Canada. That’s how I managed to make friends and get respect from those around me. That’s it.

Azeez Yusuff (student, Ireland): Hola! Hello everyone, my name is Azeez Yusuff. I’m originally from … I’m from Ireland, from Sport Against Racism Ireland. I love playing football because it just gives me more confidence and I get to meet a lot of people. And that’s what I love doing. I play in a stadium, I play semi-professional football, so I love football! Football is the life, the way to go!

István Szabó (sales agent, Hungary): Whether it be disabled football, women's football, or any type of football, football creates the same feeling everywhere.

Ada Hegerberg (footballer, Norway): Regardless of age, regardless of gender, football is a sport for everyone in the world.

Paul Pogba (footballer, France): Football is incredible, it's this amazing thing that puts a smile on people's faces.

Cristiano Ronaldo (footballer, Portugal): Making a difference on and off the pitch.

Lionel Messi (footballer, Argentina): The passion of the fans.

Zehra Badem (student, Germany): Football is everything for me. When I play football, I’m the happiest person in the world.

Eddie Thomas (coal merchant (ret), Wales): It's a sport for everyone football. We've still got it, even at our age! It's been a wonderful part of my life.