The FIGC and the women's national team are supporting the AIRC Foundation to mark the Azalea della Ricerca campaign. Following the involvement of the Under 20 national team during the Arance della Salute (Oranges for Health) campaign in January and the contribution of the men's national team during Un Gol per La Ricerca (A Goal for Research) in November, the Azzurre footballers have also chosen to take the field for AIRC.

Barbara Bonansea, Valentina Giacinti, Cristiana Girelli and Laura Giuliani took part in a social media campaign to raise awareness among fans of the importance of supporting research into cancers that affect women through a simple gesture, passing an azalea plant - the flower symbol of Mother's Day - from one to the other that for 40 years has been an ally of research into tumors affecting women, and remembering that the future of research is also in our hands.

In Italy alone, over 187,000 new female diagnoses have been estimated for 2023, 2000 more than the previous year (Source: AIOM, AIRTUM, cancer numbers in Italy 2023). Today, two out of three women in Italy live after five years following a cancer diagnosis. With a total collection of around 300 million euros, over forty years, the AIRC Foundation's Azalea has contributed to improving the quality of life and survival of women, through increasingly earlier diagnoses, less invasive surgical approaches and more precise and targeted, and more effective and better tolerated, therapies.

12 MAY: AZALEA IN SQUARES THROUGHOUT ITALY FOR MOTHER'S DAY
Around twenty thousand volunteers, coordinated by the seventeen regional offices, will return to over 3,500 squares to distribute over 600 thousand azalea seeds for a minimum donation of 18 euros. Along with the azaleas, a guide will also be offered that outlines the main objectives of the research. Azaleas are also now available on Amazon. Further information and distribution points can be found at azaleadellaricerca.it.