Faraoni and Nava meet the kids of the Philadelphia Junior Cup - ‘Keep Racism Out’ / VIDEO

Verona - Yesterday, Wednesday 2nd April, Hellas Verona hosted the sixteenth stage of the Philadelphia Junior Cup | Keep Racism Out, the seven-a-side youth football tournament promoted by Lega Serie A, Philadelphia and Centro Sportivo Italiano, which involves the oratories of the cities of the teams that play in the 2024/2025 Serie A Enilive.

The students of the Seminario Vescovile Minore had the opportunity to meet Marco Davide Faraoni, defender for Hellas Verona, and Maddalena Nava, midfielder for Hellas Verona Women. The footballers took part in an interesting discussion with the children present on the importance of friendship, respect, team play, and the fight against racism and all forms of discrimination.

Zaccaria Tommasi, Head of the Technical Department of Hellas Verona Women and Head of the Hellas Verona School Project, and Saidou Oumar Daffe, from the Corporate Social Responsibility Office of Lega Serie A, also took part to underline the importance of the project to the athletes.

During the meeting, Marco Davide Faraoni said: "Respect for others is everything, both on the field and in life. In a football team, to win you need everyone and above all you need unity. In Verona we have a very diverse dressing room, with guys of different ethnicities, cultures and religions and it's normal that we more experienced players have to welcome everyone, helping them to integrate into the team and also to settle into a new environment. I repeat that to win a team needs unity and solidarity and therefore everyone needs to feel respected and at ease, because this is the most important thing".

These, on the other hand, are the words of Maddalena Nava: "Throughout my football career I have had teammates from all over the world and I have been lucky enough to grow up in societies that have always taught me to respect my teammates and especially my opponents. On the pitch we are all the same, footballers who play to have fun and to follow our dreams. I have had many teammates of different religions and languages, very young girls who radically changed their lifestyle, going to live far from home, and therefore respect for their habits and their culture has always been the basis for helping them feel at home. The important thing is to always remember that we are all the same and that the goal of all of us is to play football and have fun".

At the end of the match, the young people from the Minor Episcopal Seminary presented Marco Davide Faraoni and Maddalena Nava with a shirt bearing the slogan ‘Football is friendship’, a symbol of the competition and tangible proof of the unifying power of sport, which can build bonds that go beyond all barriers, both on and off the pitch. The Lega Serie A therefore honoured the captains of the Seminario Vescovile Minore team with the personalised ‘Philadelphia Junior Cup | Keep Racism Out’ kit, autographed by Faraoni and Nava.

Thanks to this 7-a-side football tournament, on weekends the young athletes have the opportunity to enter the stadiums of the top Italian football league, either with walkabouts dedicated to them, or by taking the field in the pre-game warm-ups of the Serie A Enilive matches.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Junior Cup | Keep Racism Out sports tournament continues with the provincial phases. The subsequent regional and interregional phases will determine the eight best teams that will fly to Rome to compete in the final act of the competition. The final match will be played at the Olympic Stadium, to elect the champion team of the twelfth edition just before the final of the Coppa Italia Frecciarossa.