Cesena event underlines FIGC's social commitment

Stakeholders in Italian football convened for a 'Kick Off' event in Cesena aimed at strengthening the sport's foundations through knowledge sharing.

With assistance from UEFA's HatTrick scheme, the Italian Football Federation's (FIGC) three-day event sought to create links between football and other sectors of Italian society, facilitate growth and development, and foster an inclusive environment that can promote social responsibility programmes.

"Italian football takes as its starting point its legacy, its international prestige and its strong identification with its main strengths, including the 1.4 million registered members (834,000 are under the age of 18)," said Michele Uva, FIGC CEO.

"Eleven major themes concerning the world of football have been disclosed to more than 250 people coming from different areas of society, with the aim to give input which will be useful in helping us to improve our activities, not only from a sporting point of view, but also in organisational terms.

"There is an important condition for this event: the need for the FIGC to dig into the foundations of football to unearth weaknesses that are not necessarily exclusive to football. We are looking at our weak points and aspects of the sport in which we are late."

The event included round-table sessions on a wide range of topics affecting the football landscape. The FIGC is also organising a youth football tournament, specifically tailored to unaccompanied foreign minors, mainly from non-EU countries. Establishing the competition is key to the FIGC's ethos of inclusivity in football.

"We are a federation that is identified with a solid identity and with parallel aims to do more and more in terms of social responsibility."