Roma Club Jerusalem celebrates 20th anniversary with player visit

The club, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of its formation in November 2018, has a close association with AS Roma – becoming the first fan club in all of Asia upon its foundation in 1998.

Since then the club, which is registered as a non-profit in Israel and is also affiliated with Italy’s Professional Footballers’ Association, has gone from strength-to-strength.

In 2008 it began to run a football academy, which currently provides coaching and a place to play for 200 children aged from 5-14; welcoming kids from all races and backgrounds.

The club’s moto is ‘Sport without barriers’, and it aims to bring youngsters from Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim, Jewish and Christian backgrounds together – teaching them about respect for different cultures and the universal themes of equality, acceptance and solidarity through the medium of sport.

Every year the club organises a trip to Rome for students, aiming to broaden their horizons both from a sporting and cultural perspective.

This year, as part of its 20th birthday celebrations, Roma Club Jerusalem visited Trigoria to meet players in person – having watched them out on the pitch on Wednesday night, as they drew 2-2 with Fiorentina at the Stadio Olimpico.

Earlier in the week the group had the opportunity to meet and train alongside the Roma Women’s team, while they will also face members of Roma’s Under-13 side in two friendly matches before they return home.

Away from the pitch, the youngsters have had the opportunity to visit the Senate, the Great Synagogue of Rome and the city’s largest Mosque during their stay.

See more photos from the club’s Trigoria visit – and a few from their day out at the Olimpico – in the gallery below.

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