The highlight of the campaign was the successful women's 7-a-side football tournament "Women against ALS". On 11 and 12 June, more than 60 players and 200 people took part in the event. One week before the end of the charity campaign, more than €12,500 have already been raised. Donations for ALS research can still be made until 21 June using the bizum code 02621.
As stated by Dr Pol Andrés Benito, co-coordinator of the campaign and Principal Investigator of the research group in neurological diseases and neurogenetics of IDIBELL and member of the Functional Unit of Motor Neuron Disease of the Neurology Service of the HUB, "it has been a weekend full of solidarity, emotions and sport. We are delighted with the reception received and the funds raised so far and we hope that until 21 June even more people are encouraged to participate by making a donation through the bizum code 02621".
During the closing ceremony, the importance of public solidarity to promote science in our country was also stressed. In this regard, Dr Mònica Povedano, Head of the Functional Unit of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (UFELA) at the Bellvitge University Hospital and world leader in ALS, pointed out, "researchers should not be mounting campaigns to fund research, but unfortunately only 1.4% of GDP is allocated to research, compared to the European average of over 2% of GDP".
"Women against ALS" is sponsored by Vueling, Macbor and Ferrer, and it is endorsed by Patri Guijarro, a FC Barcelona player. The latter, who was unable to attend the event due to commitments with the Spanish National Team, gave her support through social media: "I am very happy with the reception of the 1st "Women against ALS" tournament and I hope it will be just the first edition of many more. We have shown that women's football is powerful enough to lead charitable causes and mobilise the population to raise funds, as this weekend alone it has raised more than €2,300," she said.
The final collection of the campaign will be announced on 21 June 2022 - World Day against ALS. All funding received will go to IDIBELL research projects. The team involved in "Women against ALS" is made up of volunteers, and thus, in no case the money raised will be used for allowances, salaries or expenses unrelated to research.