Yes09
Press information
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
The Yes09 Welcome event was staged in conjunction with the Linzfest09 opening on Friday, May 29, 2009 in the Sculpture Hall of Linz’s Lentos Art Museum. A very colorful spectacle was provided by the teams’ march—the athletes waving their flags and singing their fight songs—from the Yes09 Center across the Nibelungen Bridge to the Lentos, where they were greeted by ORF–Austrian Broadcasting Company announcer Christian Diendorfer and the playing of all 10 national anthems. Also on hand were Martin Heller (Linz09 artistic director), Ulrich Fuchs (Linz09 deputy artistic director), Leo Windtner (president of the Austrian Football Association), Ivica Vastic (Austrian football star and Yes09 patron), Klaus Luger (Linz city councilman in charge of planning), Erich Watzl (Linz deputy mayor) and Peter Sonnberger (MP). The young athletes then got the opportunity to hear a very moving speech by Willi Lemke, Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace.
The Yes09 football tournament got underway on Saturday, May 30, 2009. Presiding over the kickoff of the Essen versus Tallinn match were Willi Lemke, Leo Windtner, Ivica Vastic, Klaus Luger and Erich Watzl.
Serving as tournament venues were the stadiums of three Linz clubs: SV Urfahr, SK Admira and ASKÖ. The mode of play developed for Yes09 (30 minutes boys vs. boys, 30 minutes girls vs. girls, and 30 minutes of mixed teams) worked out beautifully; nevertheless, some inclement weather necessitated a decision to cut the length of the periods to 20 minutes each in order to minimize the injury risk to youngsters playing on the wet turf.
Right from the outset, Essen, Albufeira (Portuguese boys playing together with a girl’s team from Vienna), Vilnius and Linz emerged as the strongest title contenders. Play was fair for the most part, with only a few warnings from the referee and very minor injuries. And the atmosphere in the Yes09 Center during the pauses between matches was a pleasure to behold—for the kids, these were great opportunities to communicate with their peers and to make friends.
Things already started to get interesting in the match between Passau and Kosice to decide 7th place. Both sides showed remarkable fighting spirit and genuine élan. It came down to an exciting penalty shootout, from which Passau emerged victorious.
There was beautiful sunny weather on Monday, June 1 for the grand finale of the Yes09 tournament. Linz met Vilnius in the consolation match for 3rd place, which the home team won. The championship match pitting Essen against Albufeira couldn’t have been more exciting. The Essen boys jumped out to a 1:0 lead, but the girls from the Ruhr District were no match for their opponents and the Portuguese won 2:1. The third (mixed) period ended in a 1:1 draw which meant another penalty shootout. Essen ultimately prevailed by 5:2 and was crowned the first YES09 Cup winner.
The Final Standings:
1. Essen
2. Albufeira
3. Linz
4. Vilnius
5. Pécs
6. Maribor
7. Passau
8. Kosicé
9. Tallinn
10. Tel-Aviv-Ramallah
The official award ceremony was highlighted by powerful emotions, stirring gestures of fair play and numerous displays of friendship. The YES Cup designed by MAREK GUT – Agency for Industrial Design was presented to the victors by Ulrich Fuchs (deputy artistic director of Linz09), Josef Falkner (vice president of the Upper Austrian Football Association), Markus Limberger (chairman of Upper Austria’s Sparkasse savings bank), Christiana Dolezal (Linz deputy mayor), Erich Watzl (Linz deputy mayor) and Peter Sonnberger (MP). The tournament proceedings concluded in the Yes09 Center with a very moving film about the work of the Peres Center for Peace.
Next year, the victorious kickers from Essen will be defending their YES Challenge Cup title in Pécs, 2010 European Capital of Culture.
