The 1st European 7-a-side Football Special Olympics Tournament was held on September 2-6, 2016 in Valencia, Spain. 24 teams from Spain, France, Serbia and Azerbaijan participated in the tournament.

The first match of the National Team of Special Olympics Azerbaijan played against Spanish “Kastella Leon”. The teams shared points as the match completed 2:2. Our team won the next game 3:0, which was against “Villareal B” of Valencia. No goals were scored during the match against Spanish “Kenta”. The last meeting of the first round was with “Andalucía A”. 2:0 victory in this match carried our team to the next round – the 2nd Strongest Division.

The rivals of our National Team in the 2nd Strongest Division were "Extramadura", "Canarias" and "Levante". Our team defeated both the “Extramadura” (4:0) and the “Kanarias” (8:1). The last match against "Levante” was full of strained struggle and finished with 0:2 score. Therefore, the National Team of Special Olympics Azerbaijan was awarded the silver medals.

Our National Team was formed by players from dedicated and supportive boarding schools of Baku and Absheron, also by players with limited intellect and health from Salyan Regional Program. The football coordinator of Special Olympics Azerbaijan Kamran Fatullayev and the head coach Ramil Rajabov prepared the National Team for this event.

We would like to extend appreciation to the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Youth and Sport for the attention and care demonstrated to the Special Olympics movement, as well as the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population for the financial support, and to the “Inter” Professional Sports Club for the arrangement and preparation of the National Team.