Football, special guest of Venezia FC, the Minister of Sport for the event “Beyond Football: the union between club and city”
The minister for sport Andrea Abodi was a guest at Ca’ Venezia, the new sports center of the orange-green club, where he participated in the event “Beyond Football: the union between club and city”, organized in collaboration with Deloitte. With Minister Abodi also Michele Uva, UEFA manager and Filippo Antonelli, general manager of Venezia. The role of football as a catalyst for urban innovation and social impact was discussed and, for Minister Abodi “the relationship of a club with the city is indissoluble, it does not stop at the simple football match. We need to know how to interpret this intimate, visceral bond in the right way which goes far beyond sporting results. The society that works is the one that, for better or for worse, integrates the public into the sporting project, which therefore takes on a social character”.
A relationship that the lagoon club knows well given the investments of the last period, as underlined by Filippo Antonelli lagoon director. “The improvement of the infrastructure naturally brings with it an improved use of the stadium and our new sports center by fans and the community in general. It is clear that these works inevitably have an impact on the surrounding area, as well as representing places of aggregation, improving the level of safety and cleanliness of the streets. In our case, having renovated the Penzo has significantly improved the fans’ experience at the stadium and the work carried out at Ca’ Venezia is there for all to see. This structure allows us to optimize the work of the club, uniting all the components of the club in one place, from the administrative area to the sports one, passing through the youth and women’s sector. We are committed to harnessing the unique cultural power of football to serve as a vehicle for social progress, championing diversity, equality, inclusion and harmony within our community. We believe it is essential that a club concretely commits itself to supporting the most vulnerable sections of the population in its territory, working in synergy with local schools and associations.”
Words that particularly interested Michele Uva, UEFA manager. “We cannot deny that football is a phenomenon of acceleration towards the future and must also be a phenomenon of change of approach and contribution to the development of a territory and a community. The union between football, city and community is in fact absolutely natural and passes through sustainability. For a top sports club, working together with the community, institutions, cities and neighboring clubs must be a driving factor; common sense is needed, anticipating change with vision and concreteness through investments because there is no future without investment”.
Cristiano Aggio
