World Footy News

With the Axios Euro Cup for 2015 now just days away interest is turning to the teams that will compete this year. Whilst there is much excitement over how the host team, Croatia, will go, whether or not Denmark can defend its title or whether the Irish or English teams will bounce back, one team which has fostered much interest is the Peace Team.

Simon Fink has been working to put together this team and is one of the people responsible for seeing the team materialise at this year’s event.

According to Simon, “The current Peace Team is comprised of Israeli's and Palestinians living in and around Jerusalem. The composition is 50/50. We have Muslims, Jews and Christians playing together.”
“Selection followed a 4 month try-out which consisted of training once a week and a practice tournament in September. Most players have played Soccer or Basketball previously and 4 players represented a similar Peace Team in the Aussie Rules World Cup (sic) in Melbourne previously. There are a lot of guys who have just learnt the game recently but are athletic.”

The Peace team is drawn to play in Pool B. It is a tough assignment coming up against last year’s champions Denmark and former Euro Plate winner Austria. Time will tell how the Peace Team goes, but the mere fact that they are at the event at all is a magnificent coup for the event and a shot in the arm for footy in Israel, the Palestinian Territories and other nearby nations.

Whilst not a European team by geography, the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities across Europe will be watching on with pride as their “representative” team does battle whilst at the same time building religious, cultural and humanity bridges.

It will be a proud day for the Euro Cup and for footy in general when the Peace team first takes the field on Saturday at 10.00am (Croatian time) against the Austrians.