Moroccan Team Competes in ‘Dwarf Copa America’

The Moroccan dwarf football team was selected as the only African and Arab team to participate in the second edition of Copa America from May 20 to 24 in Lima, Peru.

Rabat – The Moroccan dwarf football team was selected as the only African and Arab team to participate in the second edition of Copa America from May 20 to 24 in Lima, Peru.

The national team participates for the second time in “Copa America Baja Talla,” baja talla translates to short stature in Spanish. The competition’s edition took place in 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This year, the Moroccan team was placed in Group B along with Paraguay, Guatemala, and Brazil.

Group A is made up of Peru, Bolivia, United States-Canada, and Colombia while Group C consists of Argentina, Mexico, and Ecuador.

Prior to the first match on Friday, Morocco’s ambassador to Peru Amin Chaoudri visited the Moroccan delegation and wished it success in the competition.

“The ambassador, together with the staff of the diplomatic mission, paid a visit to the Moroccan national team, who will participate, starting tomorrow, in Copa America in Peru. Good luck to our selection,” tweeted Morocco’s embassy in Lima.

The event’s opening ceremony took place at Peru’s National Sports Village (Videna), which was built for the Lima 2019 Pan American and Parapan American Games.

The Moroccan team faced their Brazilian counterparts on Friday. Their next game is scheduled for today at 6:00 p.m GMT +1. And the winning teams will compete on Sunday in the semifinals before moving to the grand final on May 23 at 7:00 p.m (GMT-5). The match is set to take place on Tuesday at 1:00 am (GMT+1).

The Dwarf Copa America aims to promote inclusiveness in sports and fight discrimination against dwarfism. Urumar Miranda, a Brazilian footballer, said in 2018 -during the first edition- that the Dwarf Copa America “is an example of inclusion to demonstrate that we, despite having different capacities, are common people and we can do sports and demonstrate our abilities.”

“We had never dreamed of playing,” he added.