As all eyes were watching the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Special Olympics football players had the chance to be there, reports Abeer Anwar A golden opportunity was afforded Special Olympics athletes to play a 20-minute football match with world stars and professional players. The first-ever Special Olympics Unity Cup, presented by Coca-Cola, marks the beginning of a great journey between Special Olympics and its long-time global partner. For the first time ever, athletes were welcomed on an actual FIFA World Cup pitch prior to a World Cup match to play on the same field that soccer stars from Germany and Argentina would play on just hours later. Celebrities, soccer legends and even the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, took to the field alongside 16 Special Olympics athlete teammates that hailed from all over the world. On Saturday 3 July, Special Olympics proudly shared in this historic moment at Cape Town Stadium that fittingly ended in a 2-2 draw. The two teams, named "Special Stars" and "Happiness United" enjoyed a 20-minute match on the FIFA World Cup stadium pitch, which both Special Olympics and its partner executives hailed as the beginning of an incredible journey together. Apart from Zuma, other high-profile names included former UK football star Kevin Keegan; Clarence Seedorf of AC Milan; Christian Kerembeu, star of the French national team from 1992-2002; Hidetoshi Nakata, Asia Player of the Year; Lucas Radebe, former Leeds and South African player; Alan Shearer, former Newcastle United and all-time Premier League goal scorer; Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress and Special Olympics Global Ambassador; Dikembe Mutombo, NBA legend and Global Ambassador; Enrique Borja, Mexican striker; Teofilo Cubillas, South American Player of the Year; Desiree Ellis, former captain of South Africa's national women's football team and FIFA Ambassador for 2010; Lorrie Fair, first American women to play in the Premier women's league; and Steve Sumner, former New Zealand All Whites captain. During this first ever Unity Cup, all four goals in the match were scored by Special Olympics athletes who demonstrated just how talented soccer players they are. The first goal was scored by Manolis Tampakakis of Special Olympics Greece. Maicon Santana of Special Olympics Brazil then scored to tie the match at 1-1. Special Olympics Slovenia athlete Miran Brejc scored to put the "Special Stars" up 2-1. At the end of the match, Special Olympics Algeria athlete Yacine Zabi had his back to the goal, and leaped for an incredible scissor kick to score for "Happiness United" and tie the match for a final of 2 - 2 . Yacine's scissor kick goal was talked about for hours and hours by his teammates following the match . E ven amidst the various language barriers, everyone reali s ed just what a tremendous athletic feat he had accomplished. "This was an incredible event and just the beginning," said Timothy Shriver, chairman and CEO of Special Olympics. "The world is hungry for unity as was saw first-hand with this match. People were brought together as one on this field and it just shows the incredible power of sport to bring people together." "Such matches support the movement in an effort to showcase the dignity and capacity of people with intellectual disabilities on a global stage," Ayman Abdel-Wahab, Special Olympics Middle East and North Africa regional managing director said. "It is a golden chance for us to help increase people's awareness with the intellectual disabled. Such events are great opportunities for our movement and Special Olympics athletes. We are trying to reach out to the intellectually disabled all over the world and this helps in making us able to reach out for more athletes." "It was an opportunity that our Special Olympics athletes had to play with world stars," Emad Mohieddin, SO MENA sports and training manager of North Africa, who represented the MENA region in the match said. "Algeria's player was chosen as the SO decided to include a Special Olympics player from each country taking part in the World Cup. From our region, it was only Algeria. "The Special Olympics football players were thrilled to meet and play against world stars, including South Africa President Zuma. He was eager to attend the training that was held a day before the match to cheer on the intellectually disabled football players and invited all of us to a special dinner in honour of our dear athletes." "We are excited to take this journey with Special Olympics, because it helps companies like ours to help in a meaningful way to create sustainable communities, and when we create sustainable communities we know we will have a sustainable business," said Muhtar Kent, c hairman and CEO of the Coca- Cola Company. "This is the beginning of a journey , an exciting journey." When asked after the match who was the player of the day, Kent replied , "It was a player called unity."
