The event was organised as a new project between the SOU and AFC with support from the Uzbekistan Football Federation (UFF), Ministry of Culture and Sport of Uzbekistan, Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan and Social Initiatives Support Fund Uzbekistan.

The basic purpose of the event was to promote the participation of girls with intellectual disabilities in football competitions, attract the attention of the public to problems faced by girls with intellectual disabilities, their social rehabilitation and adaptation in society.

Uzbekistan Deputy Prime Minister Akbarova F. and other VIP guests were present during the opening ceremony on May 4 with more than 50 volunteers from higher educational, cultural and sport institutions carrying out the event.

Taking part in the competitions were more than 120 girls from the Tashkent Region, Horezm Region, Samarkand Region, Kashkadariya Region, Namangan Region, Republic of the Karakalpakstan, Tashkent and guests from Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The competitions were organised on one of the best artificial fields of the UFF.

The winners in the competitions, up to five places, received medals and gifts handed over by three-time Best Asian Referee Ravshan Irmatov and UFF General Secretary Sardor Rakhmatullaev. All participants in the competitions were given T-shirts, balls and gifts by the UFF.

During the competitions, each special athlete also had an opportunity to meet medical experts who carried out medical checks and gave them briefings.

They were also taught how to take dental care and were given dental health items as part of the stomatology programme during the event.

A trip to the zoo was also organised where the children got acquainted with the animal kingdom and the flora and fauna of Uzbekistan. The special athletes stayed in one of the best hotels in the city of Tashkent, the Uzbekistan Hotel.

Gulnara Saidova, the SOU National Director, has said that the event has served as a bright example of possibility of integration of girls with intellectual disabilities in a society through sports and physical training and as a demonstration of achievements in sport of people with intellectual disabilities.

Dream Asia is a movement that uses the power of the football for positive social change. It is led by the AFC, a centre of expertise and coordinator of a global network of organisations in the field of development through football.

Dream Asia collaborates worldwide with best-practice organisations working in the field of development through football and last year selected the SOU and others to receive support due to their organisational capacity and excellent project proposals.