A group of Wales football fans will be crossing Europe again this year to donate money and sports kits to children’s charities. Members of the Gôl! supporters charity are heading for Sarajevo to see Wales play Bosnia in the European Championships Qualifying game in October. They will make the 2,500 kilometre journey through nine countries and visit good causes on their way.
The supporters will be paying their own way to get to Bosnia but they will also be raising much needed funds for children’s charities. They will visit the ‘Jugendhilfe-heidehaus’ near Koblenz in Germany and in Sarajevo the ‘Ljubica Ivezic,’ a homeless children’s centre.
They drive to Belgrade after the match where the car will be donated to a charity which works with young people in Kosovo. Gôl! organised similar drives to Azerbaijan and to Macedonia and continues to help children’s homes whenever Wales play. It also aims to improve the image of
The supporters leave Cardiff on Friday, October 2. The journey will take a week and they hope to arrive in Sarajevo the day before the Wales match in nearby Zenica on the 10th of October. Gôl! was established in Azerbaijan 2002 by fans who wanted ‘to make a difference’ when Wales played international matches. It has been active in more than 30 countries. Following that first visit in Baku gifts of footballs, kits and toys have become a regular feature of Welsh fans’ away trips.
One of the trustees, Tim Hartley, said, “We have always been made very welcome when we visit countries across Europe with Wales, from Armenia to Latvia to Iceland. This is our small way of saying thank you, give a little something back and by doing so try to raise the profile of Welsh football fans who travel thousands of miles to support their national team.”
Gôl! is grateful to Macsen Financial Planning, One-to-One Advisors Ltd, Vision Communications, Logic Freight Ltd and Knight Fire and Security for their generous sponsorship of this visit.
To donate to Gôl! go to httpss://www.justgiving.com/T-Hartley