250 young people ready to take to the field in the Winners Cup

APPIANO GENTILE - Today, the second edition of the Winners Cup was presented at the Suning Training Centre in Memory of Angelo Moratti. It will take place on 12th May at the Suning Youth Development Centre in Memory of Giacinto Facchetti. 

250 young people aged between 14 and 25 from paediatric hemo-oncology units in Aviano, Udine, Trieste, Bari, Bologna, Bolzano, Catania, Genoa, Milan, Modena, Monza, Naples, Padua, Palermo, Pisa/Florence, Rome, Turin and Paris will take part. The presence of four new teams compared to the 2017 edition and the new international dimension with the participation of the Paris team shows that the project is developing in a significant fashion ahead of upcoming editions. 

The initiative is supported by FC Internazionale Milano’s Global Main Sponsor Pirelli and coordinated by the CSI Milan Committee (Italian sports centre) and it was born thanks to SIAMO (Società scientifiche italiane Insieme per gli Adolescenti con Malattie Onco-ematologiche). It’s also supported by FIAGOP (Società scientifiche italiane Insieme per gli Adolescenti con Malattie Onco-ematologiche) who work year-round at children’s cancer units across Italian hospitals. 

"Adolescent patients are special patients, they find themselves at a transitory age where they often run the risk of receiving treatment that is no longer suitable," explained Dr Andrea Ferrari who is a Paediatric Oncologist at the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori and founder and co-ordinator at SIAMO. "Dedicated projects and centres are needed and the Winners Cup also has the aim of capturing attention, stimulating the establishment of other specific projects at different Italian centres, perhaps others could also be linked to football clubs."

FIAGOP Onlus President Angelo Ricci confirmed this: "SIAMO and FIAGOP are being spokespeople for all of those in Italy who are concerned with improving treatment and the lives of adolescent patients in AIEOP centres (Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica).  First of all, the Winners Cup should be a party for the girls and boys who take to the pitch in order to give strength and hope to people of the same age who are taking on similar and difficult experiences. It also represents an excellent opportunity to convey the complex issues which can also be psychological and social that are linked to disease in the adolescent stage of life."  

The Winners Cup has the aim of transmitting the emotions of sport to young people who are undergoing or who have undergone cancer treatment. The sharing of their life stories makes you understand that winners can emerge from illness and that sport can provide a chance to show once again the attachment to life.

"We’re proud to have developed this project last year," said FC Internazionale Milano’s Vice-President Javier Zanetti during the press conference held to present it. "At every match, we welcome guys undergoing oncology-hematology treatment to the stadium but to invite them from all of Inter (and from Europe this year) thanks to the precious contribution of Pirelli means that we’re opening the doors to our home, spending time and playing with them which has been something in our DNA for 110 years and it’s something that makes our fans proud to support the Nerazzurri." 

"Sport must get used to not betraying itself. To open impossible paths is an important challenge just as it is to achieve great sporting results. The Winners Cup is a great triumph for all of sport." These were the comments from CSI Milano President Massimo Achini. "Two years ago, it would have seemed impossible to organise such a tournament. Great teamwork between FC Internazionale Milano, CSI Milano, SIAMO, FIAGOP and Pirelli made it possible. This guys are true champions and I believe that this will be understood straight away. I hope that they become ambassadors in life at their schools and for people they meet as they show their desire to play on the front foot and not give up in the face of adversity."