Maccabi Tel Aviv on Sunday hosted an event in partnership with the Israel Football Association for Special Olympics with the aims of increasing the integration of special needs athletes at soccer clubs.
The event was held with the U17 team who hosted Special Olympics Rehovot at the PenguinPickUp training facility at Kiryat Shalom. The gathering opened with a presentation about the project and then included a joint training session with players from both teams. It ended with the lighting of the eighth and final candle for Hanukka.
Special Olympics is an international body active in 177 countries with 4.9 million participants that promotes elite sporting activities for special needs individuals and aims to integrate them into the through work and competition.
Over the past year, Maccabi Tel Aviv has expanded its support of special needs athletes with its own Special Maccabi soccer team, the first of its kind among Israeli league clubs.
