A commemorative plaque in honor of the Czech athlete who founded the football in Chisinau, Josef Seidl, was unveiled at the Dinamo Stadium on March 26. The event was organized on the eve of the Czech Republic – Moldova encounter of the qualifying tournament of the UEFA Euro 2024, IPN reports.
The Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Moldova, Stanislav Kázecký, said that during the past two years he has witnessed an important period in the history of the Republic of Moldova and an important stage in the friendly relations between the Czech Republic and Moldova. “We follow the coming closer of the Republic of Moldova to Europe, to the European values following the decision of June 2022 to grant the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine the EU candidate status,” said the diplomat. He noted that the Czech athlete, Josef Seidl, is an important personality in the history of Czechoslovakia. “Some consider that the sport is not a relevant activity, but personally I consider sports unite the people,” said the Czech diplomat.
Daniella Misail-Nichitin, secretary of state at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, noted that Josef Seidl is a personality who contributed by the own example to the development of the Moldovan-Czech relations. I think football is the most relevant example of success through correctness, assiduous work as things are built solidly only in a team. I hope the seniors of the Moldovan football will pass on this example to the young athletes in the Republic of Moldova,” stated the official.
Leonid Oleinichenko, president of the Moldovan Football Federation, noted that football is a team sport and any decision taken by one player will affect the final scoreline, depending on how the whole team assumed this decision. Football teaches the children to easier and more successfully pass the growth and promotion stages. “I’m glad that we started the program “Football in Schools” that is practically the widest, most interesting and greatest social project in the Republic of Moldova, which will definitely produce results in the future, will promote a healthy lifestyle and will form responsible generations that will be proud that they represent our country,” stated Leonid Oleinichenko.
The president of the Football Association of the Czech Republic, Petr Fousek, said that the Czech Republic and Moldova have a common past that is remembered by the event to commemorate the efforts made by Josef Seidl to develop sports and football in the Republic of Moldova, and also a common present, the upcoming football match. “We are grateful for the hospitality and care for our national team during its stay in the Republic of Moldova,” he said.
“The goal of Dinamo during 30 years, besides the mission to ensure the physical-methodological training for the operational services and the special subdivisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has been to develop applied, professional sports, including among children. Dinamo has 12 coaches who train over 250 children at nine sports events and two of them train football groups. During these 30 years, we also staged multiple events together with the Moldovan Football Federation, managing to this way promote football as the top sport in Chisinau and all over the country,” said Ion Bucur, head of the central sports club “Dinamo”.
The first inter-city football match between the team of Chisinau secondary school students and the team of the Odessa boy’s secondary school No. 2 was played in Chisinau in 1911. Josef Seidl acted as the referee of that match that was played not far from the current Dinamo Stadium. That game is considered now an important page in the history of Moldovan football.
