"Winners Cup 2024": a weekend of excitement and solidarity

It was an unforgettable weekend for all the kids who brought the fifth edition of the Winners Cup to life.

FC Internazionale Milano got in the game to support an extraordinary football tournament, dedicated to young patients on paediatric oncology wards. The event took place at the Centro Sportivo Pertini in Cornaredo on Saturday 5 October. It was organised by Inter, with help from the Club's partner BPER, as well as Centro Sportivo Italiano (CSI) Milano and the Gruppo di Lavoro Adolescenti from the AIEOP (Italian Association for Paediatric Hematology and Oncology). The project was also supported by the Fondazione Bianca Garavaglia, which has aided the Paediatric Oncology department at the Nationals Cancer Institute in Milano for years, FIAGOP (Italian Federation of Paediatric Oncology Associations for Parents) and SIOPE (European Society for Paediatric Oncology).

It was a moment of great unity that began on Friday 4 October with the official opening of the event, attended by all of the participants, who felt like they were at the heart of a movement that celebrated them not as patients but as true champions. The youngsters came from all over Italy and seven other European countries: Germany, France, Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain.

The games were played on Saturday 5 October and the kids had smiles on their faces and exes shining with determination as they played; they were all ready to give everything in order to win. The tournament saw many moments of sheer joy and solidarity. There were 16 mixed teams from a total of more than 200 young people aged between 15 and 20, all of whom shared a passion for sport as well as the experience of going through or having already gone through recovery in one of the around 30 paediatric oncology wards

It wasn't all about sport, though. The event was also a chance to make new friends, share the stories of their day-to-day battles against disease and enjoy carefree moments, as was the case for Eleonora and Georgia, who were the stars of the tournament and went head-to-head as respectful opponents in the final.

But the magic didn't end at full-time. On Saturday evening, the round off an unforgettable experience, the participants watch Inter vs. Torino and soaked in the extraordinary atmosphere of a game at San Siro.

The Winners Cup has proved, once again, that it is far more than just a football tournament. It is the tangible representation of a desire to never give in, to overcome apparently insurmountable obstacles and look to the future with confidence.