The United Nations Association of Bulgaria is one of the oldest non-governmental organizations in this country. It was created in 1948 to support Bulgaria's accession to the international organization. For twenty years now, the association has had a youth section, which coordinates activities aimed at people from 18 to 30 years of age. Its members are students from all over the country, who recognize the values and ideas of the United Nations as their own. These young and active people stand behind the organization of the Ambassador's League football tournament in Sofia. The seventh edition of the event will take place on the pitch of the "Boyana" National Football Base this Sunday, October 16, and will be under the motto “End racism. Build peace.”

"Its purpose is to gather representatives of diplomatic missions in Bulgaria in one place,” Kiril Ninov of the youth section of the United Nations Association of Bulgaria has told Radio Bulgaria. “They will play a series of matches in a football tournament as the event is accompanied by a charitable cause, and this year it is connected with a series of initiatives under the title Human Rights School. We want to make more people aware of their rights. Of course, the event is of entertaining and competitive nature. We believe we could emulate world sports forums and enable international geopolitical conversations and political dialogue to take place in an informal setting."

Confirmation for participation in the championship has already been received from the embassies of Georgia, Iran and Turkey, as well as from the International Studies Student Association. A special invitation has been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and to the Ministry of Youth and Sports and they will have the opportunity to form their own team, Kiril Ninov says.

Up to 8 teams will be formed on Sunday and all the goals scored will be in the name of peace, which is a topic of utmost importance in the backdrop of today's geopolitical situation on the Old Continent.

"We believe that in such forums a good tone and dialogue can be preserved. I must point out that the Russian Federation will not participate in the tournament for reasons related to the policy of the country, as well as the policy of the United Nations. In this regard, Russia were the only ones without an invitation from us."

It is true that sports unite. The memories of thousands of Bulgarians who experienced the memorable summer of 1994 and the successes of the Bulgarian football players during the World Cup in the USA are still alive to this day. There have also been cases when important political decisions were made in an informal environment and during conversations outside the protocol. Is world peace possible in the 21st century? Kiril Ninov is skeptical.

"My personal opinion is that world peace is an absolute utopia, just like communism,” Ninov says. “Peace is not possible, but there are steps that can bring us as close as possible to it. It depends on us and how we educate the generations coming after us. We should learn to judge a person according to their personal actions and not according to the color of their skin, or their ethnic, sexual or political orientation."

Looking back at history, let's not forget that man is a social animal, as claimed by the famous American psychologist Elliot Aronson. In order to function normally, we need a community, and the bigger and more cohesive it is, the better our results would be in the race against time.

English version: Al. Markov