Love and Peace Soccer Tournament: a Transnational Soccer Carnival

April 23, 2016

by Chao-yu Liu from United Daily News

Continuing the national soccer fervor, the national finals of Love and Peace Soccer Tournament, hosted by Christian Gospel Mission Taiwan’s Soccer League, was held at the Fu Jen Catholic University Stadium. Apart from the 20 domestic teams that participated, a South Korean soccer team also came to Taiwan for a soccer exchange match, turning it into a transnational soccer carnival.

Unlike the usual soccer matches, which emphasizes more on the outcome of the match, this Love and Peace Soccer Tournament integrated artistic performances and a specially prepared welcoming dance performance from the Amis Tribe for the opening ceremony. There were also carnival games soccer battles and mini soccer matches on-site so that all men and women, young and old, could enjoy playing soccer, regardless of whether they had previous soccer experience or not. The event organizer Chun-yen Yang expressed his hopes of demonstrating a healthy and positive exercising atmosphere through the combination of soccer and artistic events, and his hopes of equipping others with good mindsets and attitudes through soccer, so that on or off the soccer field, one can demonstrate the “Love and Peace” soccer culture.

A special guest who personally came to the scene to encourage the athletes was Yung-sheng Chen, the vice-secretary of the Chinese Taipei Football Association, ROC (CTFA). “Such a scale of gathering Taiwan, Korea and Japan is a rare occurrence.” Chen expressed, “The entire soccer carnival was very energetic; hopefully through the power of goodness, the soccer environment of Taiwan can change.

Referenced: from United Daily News, reported by Chao-yu Liu