site.btaCoca-Cola unites Bulgarian football fans with a #TogetherAgainstRacism campaign

Video-messages from fans supporting tolerance in football were aired at the national stadium during the Bulgaria – Czech Republic match

Anti-racist messages from Bulgarian football fans were aired at the National stadium “Vasil Levski” during the Bulgaria – Czech Republic match on Sunday. Despite the fact that there was an audience ban ordered by UEFA as a form of punishment, Coca-Cola invited sports fans to express their stance and support tolerance in football by airing their videos inside the empty stadium while the teams competed.

The initiative to form a “Team of Tolerance” had started the week before as a spontaneous response by Coca-Cola against the football scandal that broke in October. Back then a group of fans did racist salutes and chants in the stands during the Bulgaria – England match, which provoked worldwide media outrage and put the country in the middle of an international scandal. This was the reason why UEFA imposed a penalty on Bulgaria and the match between our national team and Czech Republic this Sunday was played with no audience.

However, with all of the messages and reactions shared through social media, Bulgarian fans showed that racism has no place in football and in our country as a whole. Coca-Cola united fans in the campaign #TogetherAgainstRacism and gave them an opportunity to still be present at the stadium by sharing their video-message supporting tolerance in football.

In just a few days Bulgarian football fans, popular sports personalities, journalists and stars send their messages declaring their firm position on the subject. Videos in Bulgarian and English were broadcast directly during the match with Czech Republic without being edited and without any interference in the content – on the scoreboard screen and on the perimeter boards surrounding the field.

The motto “There’s a way to be at the stadium” gathered hundreds of supporters and all true football fans, as well as the Coca-Cola Bulgaria team hope that the positive messages of tolerance will achieve the global media response that the negative incident prompted last month. The Coca-Cola initiative was supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Bulgarian Football Union.

Link to the broadcast video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNQkldYi-Cw&feature=youtu.be

For more information:

e-mail: office@mccann.bg

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