The Foundation took part in the event “Beyond Football – The union between club and city,” held at Ca’ Venezia, home of Venezia FC, on March 19.
The event, organized by the lagoon club with Deloitte and attended by Minister of Sport Andrea Abodi, sought to lay the groundwork for a dialogue between institutions and the club in order to disseminate positive messages and educational initiatives, support the city with structural investments, and intersect the athletic scene with the city’s social fabric.
VSF general manager Alessandro Costa spoke at the round table “Clubs, local authorities and municipalities in a virtuous model of social impact,” focusing on the integration of the sports club into the local community through the creation of tangible and intangible shared value.
The exchange continued with contributions from Venezia Fc’s sporting director Filippo Antonelli, Andrea Tomaello, deputy mayor of the Municipality of Venice, Vincenzo Marinese, deputy vice president delegate for the Venice territory of Confindustria Veneto Est, and Antonio Marcomini, pro-rector vicario with responsibility for Relations with the Territory at Ca’ Foscari University Venice.
More broadly, the centrality of football clubs, strong symbols of aggregation and social integration, but also of value generation, was discussed during the day. For this reason, among others, a modern sports company is inclined to reflect on the importance of social responsibility and the tools needed for the creation of shared value on the ground.
Deloitte’s study entitled “Beyond Football – The union between club and city” was published, showing that for 9 out of 10 Italians, football clubs can generate shared value with communities and the territory, while for 3 out of 4 Italian residents there is a keen interest in urban regeneration projects through the renovation of sports-related facilities.
In a social context in which only 7 percent of citizens are satisfied with the quality of life in relation to the city in which they live, a discrepancy emerges with the rest of Europe, where the average is 21 percent. Relevant is the 72 percent affirmative response with respect to consideration of the issue of sustainability. A large proportion of Italians consider it a priority in the development of the urban context they live in. However, only 8 percent of Italians believe that their city has already undertaken concrete sustainable urban development initiatives.
