With the programme resuming after a one-year break due to the coronavirus, Marcin Przydacz hosted the teenage players and their two coaches at the Legia Warsaw stadium in the Polish capital.
He said the project was "an effective means of sports and youth policy,” giving young people "from crime-ridden areas" the chance to get to know other cultures and continue their sports activities.
“This project also matters for our country, for our foreign ministry, because it brings Colombia and its people closer to Poland,” Przydacz said.
He added that the Colombian guests visited the southern Polish city of Kraków and "learned about the history of the 20th century," in addition to practicing with Polish coaches.
90 years of diplomatic relations
Colombia’s ambassador to Poland, Javier Darío Higuera Ángel, said the young footballers came from the cities of Mocoa and Cartagena.
He added that the trip was designed to show them that “a different life is possible,” as well as giving the youths “a moment of joy and a smile.”
Ángel also said that 2021 marked 90 years since Bogota and Warsaw established diplomatic relations, and that bilateral ties were being deepened through sports and culture, under the sports diplomacy programme.
Sports diplomacy
One of the young players, Kevin Elias Tovar Feria, said the project taught participants to “go beyond their limitations.”
The 15-year-old added he had been impressed by Poland and "excited to be invited to visit the stadium of such a fine football team as Legia Warsaw.”
Since it was launched in 2015, the sports diplomacy project has enabled some 65 Colombian school students to visit Poland, providing them with opportunities to practice various sports and develop contacts with their Polish peers, the PAP news agency reported.
It said many of these youngsters came from regions most at risk of forced recruitment to guerilla groups and drug gangs.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP