The MCF Foundation announced on 21 September that it will participate in the second edition of LaLiga Genuine Santander with the School of Intellectual Disability MCF (EDI), but what is this competition all about? Here we tell you:
Definition
If we consult laliga.es, we find the following description of the LaLiga Genuine Santander: “It is an integrative initiative of social responsibility and a pioneer in the world, organized by LaLiga through its Foundation, consisting of a football league made up of teams from the collective DI (people with intellectual disabilities).”
Competition format
The matches will be played in football-8 format and will last 40' divided into four parts of ten minutes each, articulated by two intermediates and a break. In these ‘quarters’ the result will be summarized with 1-0, 0-0 or 0-1, giving the advantage for the minimum to the team that surpasses the opponent regardless of the number of goals. In this way, the highest result possible at the end of the match will be 4-0.
The scoring system is of three points for victory, two for a tie and one for defeat, but not only the sport results that count. In LaLiga Genuine Santander, the “positive attitudes of sportsmanship shown during matches” will be taken into account, according to laliga.es. This means that ‘fair play’ and sportsmanship frm the players, coaches and fans, will also be taken into account for in the final classification.
Participants
One of the main objectives of the LaLiga Foundation is that the Spanish professional soccer teams have a Genuine team. In this second edition, 30 groups will participate:
Alavés, Albacete, Almería, Athletic, Atlético, Celta, Córdoba, Dépor, Eibar, Espanyol, Girona, Huesca, Las Palmas, Leganés, Levante, Lugo, Málaga, Mallorca, Nàstic, Osasuna, R. Oviedo, R. Sociedad, Rayo , Reus, Sevilla, Sporting, Valencia, Valladolid, Villarreal and Zaragoza.
Tournament phases
The first phase will play in Tarragona this weekend. The 30 teams will participate in a football marathon that will take place on Saturday and Sunday, where each team will play three matches.
Once the first round is completed, a division will be made in two groups, splitting the classification table in half to compete in the following phases, from the 1st to the 15th and from the 16th to the 30th. Thus, the first group and the second will play between them the next two phases. The second (November) will be held in Cordoba and A Coruña, while the third (January) will be in Madrid and the Angels of San Rafael (Segovia). Finally, in the final phase (June), the thirty squads will get together in Valencia.
Málaga Genuine matches
The Málaga CF EDI Foundation is located in the Jdel Group, together with RC Deportivo de la Coruña, Girona FC and the host, Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona.
The schedule of meetings is as follows:
Dépor - Málaga | Saturday, 12:00 noon
Málaga- Girona | Saturday, 6:00 p.m.
Nastic - Malaga | Sunday 12:00 noon
