LaLiga and ONCE together for a more accessible football

LaLiga's president, Javier Tebas, and the general manager of ONCE, Angel Sanchez, have signed an agreement committing them to work together to improve the accessibility to football for the disabled, as well as all related activities of LaLiga, so they can enjoy this entertainment and everything around it.

The agreement was sealed at ONCE's Center for Educational Resources in Madrid, where Javier Tebas, joined by LaLiga´s general manager for Innovation and Global Development, Ignacio Martinez Trujillo, besides the Director of Marketing, Sponsorship and Sales of LaLiga, Adolfo Bara and the manager of the Professional Football Foundation, Olga de la Fuente, have known the work of the Organization, aimed at the education of over 7,500 blind children who receive daily support from ONCE. The event was also attended by the center's director, Amparo Cruz, next to the Deputy general manager of Game, Patricio Cárceles, and Angel Luis Gomez, director of Personal Autonomy, Caring for the elderly, Youth, Leisure and Sports.

The guests were given a tour that just started with the smallest, in an early attention classroom where ONCE professionals are working with young children and their families giving all the necessary stimulus to face the day by day with guarantees. Later, a classroom with deaf-blind pupils, where they checked the extreme isolation that represents this dual disability and how professionals work in direct contact with children. Finally the Avanza classroom of technology, where blind children showed their ability to follow the classes through a system of educational inclusion based on the digitization of teacher and student positions. The visit ended at the sports center with an exhibition of one of the members of the Spanish National Team of blind football, Adolfo Acosta, who showed his skills in this adapted sport and where the president of LaLiga tried to score a penalty with a mask, putting himself in the shoes of blind people.

Javier Tebas said that this was "a very special day for LaLiga. ONCE is an institution that is characterized by the responsible gambling and obtaining resources for the inclusion of the visually impaired in a successfully way. It is joining the history of Spain and stand by the values of sacrifice and fighting spirit and along with all who help. LaLiga likes these kind of projects: they mean the union of social responsibility and the promotion of two institutions with common values".

For Angel Sanchez, "the agreement with the best league in the world pursues be part of the scenery, of the schools, of the workplace  ... We are people with disabilities but we never put into relief what we cannot do, but everything we can do. Sport is vital because of its values for the development as individuals, is part of the comprehensive path for that blind people can be part of society. LaLiga is another traveling companion on this journey".

Football without barriers

The agreement aims to open cooperation between the signatories to the participation of people with disabilities, especially blind people, in the activities promoted or implemented by LaLiga, contributing to their integration and normalization in society. ONCE will advise LaLiga in different programs of accessibility, including the development of equipment in Braille, or on access, walking or the signage of facilities.

In addition, in the field of gaming products, the two entities may agree launching products whose subject and title referring to football and LaLiga, under the maxim that its marketing will also boost the inclusion of people with disabilities in society.