Article by Tonio Serafini – Libération – Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th of May 2007
Posted by France - 06/06/2007
“It helps to hang on to life” Tiberiu Anastasovci, 31 years old, will play in the Homeless World Cup in Denmark.
It was at the beginning of the 90’s. Tiberiu Anastasovci is one of the young players of the Dynamo training centre in Bucarest, one the best known clubs in the Romanian capital.
He is 16 when he’s selected for the national youth team and takes part in a tournament in Turkey. “At that time, I thought I’d be able to make it in soccer”. Disappointment strikes. At 18 years, he’s playing with Giurgiu, a third division club. He earns a small salary, plus match bonuses, and takes training in the building trades. He plays several seasons hoping to work his way back up.
Then he fractures his tibia. He’s sidelined for eight months before he recovers. Returns to play with Matesolko, a Hungarian third division team. He attains semi-professional status. Works four hours a day in a factory that sponsors the club, and trains the rest of the time. It lasts two years. Another tibia fracture. “After I lost hope for soccer, I decided to go to the West.” He hopes to find a job and enjoy a comfortable life. “I was attracted by what I thought would be a paradise”. In 2002, he finds himself in Paris, homeless and without papers. “When you arrive, nobody cares about you. It’s a shock.” He “gets to know every emergency shelter” in the capital and also sleeps on the street. Frequenting the Orthodox Church, he meets people who help him to find small, odd jobs. By coincidence, he also meets people living together in a community, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, and with whom he continues to live. For the last four years, he’s been participating to the soccer championship against social exclusion. “We are like brothers. It helps us hang on to life.”
On Sunday, he will participate in the tournament in the Parc de Princes. From the 29 July until 4 August, he will be one of the French team in Denmark, taking part in the soccer Homeless World Cup.
(Photo by Raphaël Dautigny, Luce)
