Special Olympics Bharat football team eyes hat-trick at Gothia Cup 2026 in Sweden

Special Olympics Bharat’s football team will depart for Sweden on Saturday, targeting a historic hat-trick of titles in the Special Olympics Trophy at Gothia Cup 2026. Coach Madavadasse highlighted non-verbal communication as key to their rigorous multi-camp preparation

New Delhi: Special Olympics Bharat’s football team is aiming to complete a hat-trick of titles at the tournament meant for players with intellectual disabilities under the Gothia Cup 2026 to be held in Sweden from July 12.

The Indian team is taking part in the Special Olympics Trophy, a competition within the Gothia Cup.

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Having won the last two editions, the Indian team will leave for Sweden on Saturday morning for the tournament to be held in Gothenburg.

“Gothia Cup is the biggest tournament and two times in a row this team has won, these players are really the champions and ambassadors. They are the pride of India and also the pride of Sweden,” Sweden’s ambassador to India Jan Thesleff told the media during the team’s send-off ceremony on Friday.

Coach Onaciss Madavadasse said training athletes with intellectual disabilities requires a unique approach, with communication often relying on actions and sign language rather than words.

“Some of these guys don’t speak. We try to train them through actions and sign language. It is definitely not easy (to communicate). We try to communicate with the eyes. During the matches, there are no different languages, there is only sign language that we use,” he said.

“We had the matches in Gwalior. In the first camp, we focused on individual skills, in the second camp we focused on coordinating within the team and in the third one we added coordinating with the opponents, and then we picked the players on that basis,” the coach added, referring to the training programme that culminated in the camps held in Puducherry.