A unique experience, to try to distract them, at least for a day, from the horrors of the war, meeting the Azzurri at the home of Italy’s National Team: on the first day of training for Spalletti’s ‘new’ Italy, 16 Ukrainian children got to watch the players they normally admire on TV, first-hand. They got autographs and took a group photo to immortalise this memory, all together on the Coverciano training pitch. 

The Ukrainian children - all refugees in Italy, forced to leave their home country - got to discover the history of Italian football through a guided tour of the Museo del Calcio, admiring the memorabilia on display, including the 2021 European Championship trophy. 

This experience at Coverciano was made possible thanks to the Hope Ukraine Foundation, which has been designing and enabling the Italian solidarity network to support the Ukrainian people, in both Ukraine and Italy. Through activities such as today’s, the foundation is committed to creating bonds that can help overcome the traumas experienced.