VCF Inclusivo, from the VCF Foundation, is on its way to Houston (Texas; United States) to participate in the first edition of the Genuine World Cup. Valencia CF  will play 8-a-side football against teams from Spain (LaLiga Genuine), Portugal, Mexico and the USA between the 1st and 3rd of August in Houston (Texas).

The VCF Foundation has been working with the DI collective in its VCF Inclusive programme since the 2016-17 academic year, providing them with the opportunity to play football as a motivation for their personal development and social interaction.

This first edition of the tournament, with Houston Dynamo FC as host team, has the participation of 12 teams from the United States, Mexico, Portugal and Spain: Houston Dynamo FC and Inter Miami from USA; Club Tigres and Querétaro FC from Mexico; Sporting Clube de Portugal and Benfica SL from Portugal; and Athletic Club Fundazioa, Fundació Barça, Nàstic de Tarragona and VCF Inclusivo from Spain; as well as Special Olympics USA and Special Olympics Mexico.

The tournament has a group stage that takes place on 1 and 2 August and the final stage that takes place on 3 August at Shell Energy Stadium, the main stadium of Houston Dynamo FC.

The teams arrive in Houston on 30 July and return to their home cities on 4 August. During their visit, they will stay at the Rice University residence and, in addition to participating in the first edition of the Genuine World Cup, they can enjoy the city with different cultural and leisure activities programmed by the organisers.

This is the case of the visit to the NASA facilities and the attendance to a baseball game (Houston Astros vs Pittsburgh Patriots) and a soccer game (Tigres UANL vs Inter Miami).

On the other hand, Rice University not only hosts the 12 participating teams, but also hosts the ‘Genuine Connect’, a networking day that takes place on the morning of 1 August and brings together different relevant speakers to present initiatives that are already being developed and the challenges to be faced in the future to promote the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and autism in society.