‘Football Against Forgetting’ is a project launched through a collaboration between the Fundación LaLiga and the Spanish Federation of Former Footballers' Associations (FEAFV). Its aim is to promote football-based reminiscence workshops, which the FEAFV has been running since 2013 and which Málaga CF joined several years ago.
From early October through to December, Málaga Forever, the Club's veterans association, is working alongside the FEAFV to deliver reminiscence workshops for elderly residents at Ballesol care homes who are in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
The sessions aim to improve emotional wellbeing by working with feelings and memories. They also help stimulate cognitive functions, particularly autobiographical memory. Through the symbols, legends and iconic figures associated with Málaga CF, the workshops seek to stimulate and recover memories linked to childhood, youth and adulthood through football. They are designed for older people, both with and without cognitive impairment, brain injuries or mental health difficulties.
Advisory board members Francisco Martín Aguilar and Abdallah Ben Barek joined Raúl Iznata and Juan Jesús Gutiérrez ‘Juanito’ at today's workshop. The former Malaguista, who is now the Club's first-team delegate, said: “It's a pleasure to see the excitement with which they look forward to our visit. They get the chance to leave their care home and familiar surroundings and reminisce about experiences they have enjoyed at La Rosaleda. It's a pleasure to be involved and to see the joy on their faces,” he stated.
Juanito explained that the workshops are mutually beneficial and also provide an opportunity for the participants to learn more about the history of the Blue and White club. “They are huge Málaga fans and have thousands of anecdotes to share. I often tell them: ‘We learn from you’. The important thing is for football to be a way of keeping them entertained for a couple of hours, giving them the chance to remember experiences from their past while also passing on the values of Málaga that have been instilled in us from our academy days.”
The session took place at La Rosaleda, where participants enjoyed a stadium tour accompanied by Sebastián Fernández ‘Basti’, a member of the MCF Foundation. He showed them the ‘Juan Cortés’ press room and the ‘Joaquín Peiró’ dugout before guiding them through the Museum & Tour, where the elderly visitors enjoyed photographs, videos, memorabilia and anecdotes celebrating Málaga CF.
Iznata is looking forward to spending time with the group each week until mid-December, when the project comes to an end, explaining: “It's incredibly rewarding to see how much they enjoy an experience that requires very little effort on our part but means so much to them.”