Scotland’s rich cultural landscape was celebrated in Edinburgh on Saturday at the annual Multicultural Football Festival.

The event, organised by the Scottish FA and BEMIS Scotland, brought together 10 teams, 100+ players on the day and an array of cultures enjoying the game in Scotland - at Oriam, Scotland’s Sports Performance Centre, for a day of competitive action.

The Multicultural Football Festival celebrates and supports Fare network’s ‘Action Weeks’. The Football People action weeks unite supporters, clubs, ethnic minorities and communities affected by discrimination across the continent in a concerted effort to make discrimination a thing of the past.

Working with the clubs that take part over the course of many the months, the Scottish FA provided the event as a stepping stone to develop and become more empowered by increasing their opportunities to play affiliated football. On a day of highly competitive action, Watt United were victorious. 

Paul Fitzpatrick, Scottish FA football Diversity & Inclusion co-ordinator, said: “This was a fantastic celebration of the diverse communities across Scotland who are playing and looking to progress in the game.

“Football has a power to bring people together and it was fantastic to see so many people here today sharing their love of the national sport.”

The Scottish FA’s football Diversity & Inclusion team also helped run the event and support from the Scottish Government’s CashBack for Communities Fund has resulted in the team being formed at the Association.

Since the projects inception, they have been carrying out ground-breaking work across Scotland to increase awareness and football opportunities for the Scotland’s many diverse cultures.

Teams from as far afield as Aberdeen were represented at Oriam but there was also representation from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Falkirk. 

The projects main aims are to increase accessibility in football from people from an ethnic minority background, and also increase in the knowledge and participation in grassroots football for diverse community groups in Scotland.