“Now my family and friends are proud of me”
“life is great and AbStinence is cool”
Lukáš Albrecht represented the Czech Republic at the Wroclaw Cup in Poland. The Wroclaw Cup is an annual street football tournament organised by our Polish partner Stowarzyszenie Reprezentacja Polski Bezdomnych (Polish Homeless National Street soccer Team Association).
38-year-old Lukáš Albrecht has always loved football. As a child, playing football helped him to forget the struggles of daily life.
“Football played a big role in my life; I have played since I was a child and I had to look after myself. It was a hard thing in my life - my father died when I was three years old, so I grew up with my mother and I had to make money for everything.”
Growing up in a farming family, after his father died and when he was old enough, the hard work fell to Lukáš to help keep the family’s livelihood going. His grandfather taught him that pain and hard work were necessary for success; as a farmer you reap what you sow.
His grandfather’s “no pain, no gain” approach meant working hard day after day and selling what he grew. By doing this, Lukáš was able to save up and buy his first pair of football boots. As he played, he dreamt of playing football for the Czech Republic.
However, at 15 an injury put an end to his hopes of representing his country: “I hurt my knee and I had to have an operation and my dreams disappeared.”
After the operation, Lukáš continued to play, playing football in the Czech third division. But further operations to fix other injuries had a knock-on effect, fed up with being unable to play he started to drink and take drugs.
“I was bored so I started to drink, I got a new group of friends and then one of my friends died. Then a second one died. Then it started to be a bigger problem.”
They had both died of drug overdoses. This was a wakeup call and Lukáš stopped taking drugs, but he kept drinking, slowly this became the problem.
“I was strong to stop drugs, but I didn’t realise how strong alcohol was and the impact it would have.”
“Without the support of my family – my sisters and brother, I wouldn’t have made it”
“Overcoming drug and alcohol addiction was a big journey, which needed a lot of strength. Without the support of my family – my sisters and brother, I wouldn’t have made it.”
During his rehabilitation programme, he was introduced to the sports programme ‘Zvitezit muze kazdy’ - “Everyone Can Win” run by our partner in the Czech Republic SANANIM and started to play football again.
“Football means a lot to me, it’s in my heart. It gives me hope for life beyond addiction and living in abstinence.”
Life has changed a lot for Lukáš since he joined Sananim’s programme. Not only is he playing football again, he is now sober.
“Now life is great - it’s super and abstinence is cool. My perception is much better and now I remember everything, which is different!”
“It’s an unforgettable memory being here, I hope I will continue with this in the future. It means a lot to me to play for Czech Republic. Now my family and friends are proud of me.”
Words: Rebecca Corbett
Find out more about our partner SANANIM and how they’re using football in the Czech Republic to support people to change their lives.