The champions of Italy in 2020 are the doctors, medical staff, civil protection volunteers, law enforcers and armed forces, essential public services staff and other essential professionals. The FIGC awards the #TheHeartScudetto to all of them who face the virus every day, putting the value of the community above themselves; the award is a special tricolour for the national emergency team battling against Coronavirus on the front line.

The initiative was put forward by the FIGC’s President, Gabriele Gravina, and puts the whole of Italy’s mutual feeling into the limelight as the nation spurs on those defeating Covid-19. It’s for this reason that the FIGC have chosen the symbol of excellence in Italian sport: the Scudetto. Its meaning is more than symbolic: it’s a motif for unity as well as success, both within the world of football and throughout the country.

“Football is an extraordinary social glue,” said President Gravina, “and it has an enormous responsibility even when not being played on the pitch, conveying positive messages to all fans. We have decided to avoid sporting endeavours and give our current heroes the recognition they deserve and that is already in people’s hearts.”

#TheHeartScudetto will be symbolically awarded to all the professional sectors involved in combatting the emergency in an ad hoc event that would coincide with Coach Roberto Mancini’s initiative to unite the Azzurri and Azzurre and celebrate the end of the pandemic in Bergamo together, whenever conditions will allow it. In fact, the FIGC’s intention is to have the National Team play the first official match that’s open to the public after the pandemic at San Siro in Milan, with the aim of bringing Italian fans together and remembering the victims of the pandemic alongside institutional representatives of those sectors involved in the fight.

In addition to this, the FIGC will promote various campaigns to accompany the #TheHeartScudetto initiative: to follow up the donation to the Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, the Federation will support a direct fundraiser for other front-line sectors, auctioning a limited edition shirt that the Azzurri and Azzurre will wear while taking to the pitch in their first match after football returns, together with other memorabilia. Furthermore, there will be a call to action dedicated to this project on the FIGC’s social media profiles, whilst also, in the next edition of the ‘Italian Football Hall of Fame’, there will be a special category established for the #TheHeartScudetto, and a special section of the Museum will be created to remember what people are doing to solve this national emergency.

The logo developed for the campaign combines the tricolour with a doctor’s stethoscope to create a visual symbol of the sector that’s most exposed during this emergency, and which has given the most extraordinary contribution. In the promotional statement published today in national sports newspapers and on the FIGC’s social media profiles, the campaign also shows a gown, to represent all hospital staff, with a tricolour badge on the chest, the #TheHeartScudetto logo and the text ‘Champions of Italy’. A video and audio advertisement have also been elaborated and will be distributed to the media for wider promotion.

THE OTHER FIGC INITIATIVES: The Covid-19 emergency has already united the world of football, which has been the protagonist of multiple initiatives: The Federation, leagues, clubs, players, coaches and referees have all taken to the pitch to help those in need without showing distinction. For its part, the FIGC have supported the National Institute for Infectious Diseases at the Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital in Rome with a direct donation €100,000, as well as involving the Azzurri and Azzurre in a campaign to raise awareness on what behaviour should be adopted to contain the virus called #therulesofthegame, in addition to making the FIGC’s centre at Coverciano available to the Civil Defence of Florence for the emergency, which meant the National teams’ home has been renamed ‘The Home of Solidarity’.