This Saturday the 2016 Multicultural Football Festival will take place for the fourth year in-a-row.

 

The seven-a-side tournament will take place at Oriam to celebrate Scotland’s diverse communities through football.

 

Around 150 participants from 10 different clubs across the breadth of Scotland will play in the tournament to help continue to help change the attitudes of both ethnic minorities and the wider society towards diverse football participation to increase opportunities.

 

The Scottish FA have helped a number of ethnic minority clubs or groups through 8 week block coaching sessions and showed the willingness to help continue them with MCFB (multi-cultural family base), benefitting from the support.

 

The event on Saturday will bring together a number of the groups the Scottish FA have helped as a celebration to demonstrate how diverse Scotland is.

 

Scottish FA’s Diversity and Inclusion Co-ordinator Paul Fitzpatrick said: “The Scottish FA is committed to ensuring that football in Scotland is open to all and that barriers, real and perceived, are removed, particularly in relation to under-represented groups.

 

“Although it is integrated into everything we do as an association via our Equality Action Plan, thanks to the Scottish Governments CashBack for Communities fund and with the expertise and backing of our strategic partners BEMIS Scotland, we have been able to develop a bespoke project with dedicated professionals. 

 

“The Scottish FA will endeavour to make Scottish football a more diverse and accessible sport for everyone that wants to play the game at any level.”