On October 19 2023, starting at 10 a.m. in the Spens Small Hall, a sports-inclusive event "Friendship Matches" was held.

The event was opened by the head of the city administration for sports and youth, Vlastimir Mastilović. In a further address, the organizers of the event in front of the Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization (EHO), the Association of Policemen and Citizens "Safe Community", the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the RS (KIRS), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Serbia (UNHCR), the Center for Crisis Response and Policy (CRPC) welcomed the participants and thanked them for their participation.

The participants were guided through the program by Vedrana Bjelajac (EHO) and Boban Pavlović (UPG "Safe Community"). After the dance performance of the B13 group, which consists of young people from Veliko Rit, a friendship race followed. Everyone present participated in the race, while the victory was won by the students of the "Jakov Nenadović" High School of Internal Affairs from Sremska Kamenica.

After the award presentation, the president of the Cricket Federation of Serbia, together with the children from the Šid Reception Center, introduced the audience to the rules of cricket as a sports discipline.

In the central part, the representatives of the institutions started drawing football pairs.

The following schools participated in the tournament: Primary School "Jožef Atila", Primary School "Vuk Karadžić", Primary School "Dušan Radović", School for Primary and Secondary Education "Milan Petrović", Traffic School "Pinki", Gymnasium "Svetozar Marković", School of Electrical Engineering " Mihajlo Pupin", Middle School of Internal Affairs "Jakov Nenadović", young people from the Šid Reception Center and young people from the Veliki Rit settlement in Novi Sad.

The third place was taken by the team from the Accepted Center Šid, the second place was taken by the "Jakov Nenadović" High School of Internal Affairs, while the first place was won by the team made up of the students of the "Mihajlo Pupin" Electrical Engineering School.

Medals are provided for the participants of the friendship race. Trophies were awarded for the first three places in the football tournament.

Additional prizes were provided by Decathlon, "Žabac" bowling alley, Escape room zone and Trampoline park Amplitude.

Regularity and respect for sports rules were enforced by professional judges. Representatives of the Red Cross Novi Sad and Sremska Kamenica took care of security at the event, while the Police Department of Novi Sad and the Fire Brigade of the city of Novi Sad introduced the students to the interesting aspects of their work.

The event was also supported by a donation from the Evropa bakery, Coca-cola and Minaqua.

We would like to thank everyone who contributed and helped to achieve the goal, which is to unite children and young people from different social contexts in order to complete their free time through socializing and respecting the basic principles of sport and fair play. In addition to the participants, 40 young volunteers demonstrated social responsibility, volunteerism and prosocial behavior.

In this spirit, we express our special thanks to the Association of Young Volunteers, the volunteers of the Novi Sad Volunteer Service, the volunteers of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Novi Sad, the Secondary School "Svetozar Marković" and the volunteers of our organization.

Photo credit: @Kharimnsengiyumva/UNHCR