The cinotherapy applied to football is the foundation of the project presented by FC Porto in response to the challenge issued by UEFA to all participants in the Youth League, competition that has the Dragons in the Final Four.

Every year, UEFA asks all the clubs playing for the competition to create a video, and, this year, the theme was a social component. FC Porto chose dog assisted therapy, a new therapy approach that uses dogs in physical, psychological and emotional treatment of people with special needs, to include in the video.

In association with Dogga, a dog school responsible for the therapies, project GAIAaprende+ and CERCI Gaia, with whom a cooperation protocol was signed, the objective is to show the potential of cinotherapy in the individual and group evolution, offering a special day to the Under19 squad and to a group of children with special needs.

“The mission is to help the child reach objectives with the help of a dog. The special child may become a football player, score a goal, with the help of the animal”, Manuela Vilas-Boas, representing Dogga, explained.

The dog ends up being a motivational and helpful element, and can be used in several scenarios. If the objective is to work on the physical development, races can be organized, with the child imitating the dog; for emotional issues, there is an attempt to connect to the dog; and, in cases of learning difficulties, the idea is to use the dog in solving academic content.

Mário Silva, coach of the Under19 team of FC Porto, talked of the value of cinotherapy applied to football: “you can use the dog to show what we want for a specific exercise. It was interesting to realise that there may be a transfer from that moment to a moment during the match, with a motivation to score a goal, which is the most important moment in the game.”

The work of FC Porto in this area also convinced Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, mayor of the City Hall of Gaia. “This is one of the most extraordinary projects I have seen as mayor. We feel we are touching lives and helping develop children with very specific needs that only have this type of support. We are helping shape the future of these children. Let’s hope that the inspiration of the therapists and FC Porto helps make the project known”, he concluded.

Check the final result in video: