Nearly 18,000 people, including 3,000 children, will have access to a mini-football pitch and outdoor fitness equipment. The mini-football pitch was rebuilt in a neighborhood in Tiraspol, in the breakaway Transnistria region, with the financial support of the European Union (EU).

Competitions between local teams could also be organized on the field, as well as with the participation of children and adults from other localities, including on the right bank of the Nistru River.

The sports field, rebuilt under the EU’s Confidence Building Measures Program, implemented by UNDP, was inaugurated on August 26.

“Sport is an activity that has always united young people, their families, and their communities. It encourages mutual respect and friendship among players, spectators and volunteers. In this challenging period because of COVID-19, we are glad that we can bring the children of Tiraspol an opportunity to find an area where they can socialize through sports, respecting the social distance close to where they live,” said Peter Michalko, Ambassador Of the European Union in Moldova, at the opening ceremony.

The project was coordinated by 47-year-old Anatoli Kovalski, a former athlete. He practiced kayaking in Ukraine from the age of 13. He returned to Tiraspol and decided to inspire young people, by his own example, to lead a healthy lifestyle and choose sports.

The project, with a budget of over 50,000 euros, was carried out between October 2019 and July 2020 and aims to improve the conditions for social interaction between the neighboring population, to create opportunities for physical activity for people on both sides of the Nistru river and to ensure a better social atmosphere, so that young people can choose a healthy lifestyle, excluding tobacco and alcohol.

The reconstruction of the sports field in Tiraspol is one of the 16 social infrastructure projects implemented since 2019 on both banks of the Nistru river. The projects were selected in a public call. The EU’s Confidence-Building Measures program, implemented by UNDP, aims to bring people together on both banks of the Nistru river, by involving them in joint development projects.