Football: Friendly match between ESPS Navarra and Seychelles Defence Forces |20 September 2023

Members of the SDF and crew of the ESPS Navarra in a souvenir photo (Photo: Contributed)

Seychelles Defence Forces fire six past ESPS Navarra

Members of the Seychelles Defence Forces yesterday scored six goals for a final 6-1 win against the crew of the ESPS Navarra in a friendly match at StadPopiler.

Part of the Operation Atalanta, formally European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR), the ESPS Navarra (F85), the fifth of the six Spanish-built Santa Maria-class frigates, is presently in Port Victoria where the crew are seizing the opportunity to take a break and enjoy the beauty of our beautiful islands.

A special thank you goes to the chief executive of the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) Denis Rose for providing the ESPS Navarra crew with a set of uniform for the match.

Laid down on April 15, 1991, and launched on October 23, 1992, Navarra was commissioned in service on May 27, 1994.

As for the Operation Atalanta, it is an ongoing counter-piracy military operation at sea off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean, which is the first naval operation conducted by the European Union (EU), in support of United Nations’ resolutions 1814, 1816, 1838, and 1846 adopted in 2008 by the United Nations Security Council.

Roland Duval