After forty years, Almere can no longer participate in the International Youth Games. The municipality of Almere has stopped the subsidy for the Partner Cities Almere Foundation. This puts an end to Almere participation during the games.
During the international youth games, approximately 400 young people from different European cities come together to play sports and get to know other cultures. Various sports are practiced for a weekend, such as athletics, badminton, golf, handball, judo, rowing, tennis, triathlon and swimming.
The international youth games have been an annual phenomenon in Almere for forty years. Since 1984, Almere, together with the partner cities Aalborg in Denmark, Lancester in England and Rendsburg in Germany, has organized the Friendship Games every four years.
The Almere Partner Cities Foundation calls on the city council to reverse the cuts. “An important objective of the games is that young people learn from different cultures with their sport as a binding factor. This is very topical, especially in the current time of polarization in the Netherlands and the war in Ukraine,” says the chairman of the foundation.
Medal for the Almere athlete Renze Huizinga (left) during the Friendship Games in Aalborg in July 1991. Photo: Bob Friedländer
2024-03-14 16:17:08
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