The Almeirim Municipal Stadium was the stage for the 2024 Walking Football Portugal Opening Tournament, the first stage of the National Circuit of a sport on the rise. The event saw the participation of 15 teams from various regions of the country, involving around two hundred players. Promoted by RUTIS – Senior Universities Network, the tournament was supported by several entities such as the Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth and Almeirim City Hall.
Walking Football is a variant of football that aims to encourage people over the age of 50 to practice sports, promoting integration and coexistence in favor of a more active life. From the home team, USAL, made up of twelve members, Rogério Silva is in his second year of practicing the sport. Encouraged by his wife, he wanted to add Walking Football to his list of physical activities, to add to the other sports he already practices such as paddle tennis, cycling and hiking. Rogério Silva says that the repercussion of this modality has been very positive. “The biggest benefit of this sport is preserving our health, as well as socializing and friendships,” he said.
Athlete and nurse, Jorge Rola joined Walking Football eight years ago. Despite loving the sport, he says that levels should be created. “A 55-year-old player shouldn’t play with a 75-year-old, their physical capacity isn’t the same and it ends up not being fair”, he explains. Teammate Carlos Gomes recognizes that for the sport to have categories, the number of participants would have to be much greater. A player on the team since 2023, he discovered the aspect through senior university. “It frees us and takes us out of our comfort zone,” he says.
Regarding the sport, the project coordinator, Luis Jacob, guarantees that, with around 1200 athletes spread across the country, there are more and more people joining and that a lot is due because it is not a competition, but rather “pure fun”. All the athletes that O MIRANTE spoke to say that the biggest challenge of the sport is not being able to run, jump, do sweeps or cuts. They emphasize that the most important thing about sport is social interaction and highlight the importance of mental and physical health, the most important factor in the sport.
