First edition of Trofeo Italian Connection in Milan on 1 June
The British Consulate and UKTI grant patronage to the football 7-a-Side trophy for the Italian clubs supporting British football teams.
The British Consulate-General in Milan and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the government department that supports UK exporters and helps attract foreign investment, are pleased to support the first edition of the Trofeo Italian Connection, an amateur football 7-a-Side trophy for the “Italian branches” of the supporters clubs of Premier League and other British championships teams.
The event, which will be attended by Vic Annells, British Consul-General and Director of UKTI Italy, will be the occasion to promote the GREAT Campaign, which was launched by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2012 in order to highlight the best that the UK has to offer. The slogan adopted for the trophy is indeed “Sport is GREAT”, one of the pillars of British excellence.
The trophy, which is organised by A.S. Masseroni Marchese - Milano, will take place on Saturday, 1 June 2013 at the Sports Centre Masseroni Marchese, Via Madruzzo 3, Milan. The initiative is based on an original idea by Irma D’Alessandro, a well-known RTI Mediaset sport broadcaster, involved in British football for more than a decade. The initiative, which is supported by quellichelapremierleague.com, has obtained the patronage of the British Consulate-General in Milan and UKTI and also of the Lombardia Region, who will be represented by Antonio Rossi, stillwater kayak Olympic multi-medallist and World Champion, recently appointed Regional Sport Department Minister for Lombardy.
This free-admission event is a first for Italy. The players involved in this amateur competition all belong to their own Italian branches connected to the Premier League reference club. These Italian branches are all represented in the so called ‘Italian connection’, the special section of quellichelapremierleague.com dedicated to the Premier League, which is regarded as the world’s richest and most popular league.
Many of these Italian branches were officially acknowledged by the English football clubs after successfully completing a long and complex procedure, with the main focus on their members’ discipline and behaviour. In Italy a total estimated in at least 10,000 people are involved, as members or simple fans, in these activities.
The representatives of sixteen clubs will take part in the 1st Trofeo Italian Connection. Twelve of them are Premier League clubs, namely Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Tottenham, West Ham. This group is completed by QPR (just relegated in Championship), Ipswich Town, Leeds United (Championship) and Celtic Glasgow, the Scottish champions. All players will be wearing the official shirts of their own teams, and matches will be supervised by referees who are members of FIGC, the Italian Football Federation.
All matches will take place in one day, starting at 10:00. The teams will be playing the same number of matches (six) in each own round robin. The second stage will be a k.o. stage with repechage in order to have a 16 teams final standing. The award ceremony is scheduled around 6:30pm.
Two hundred players from all over Italy will be contesting the Trophy which, like the Community Shield, will be kept by the winning team for a year and passed on the following year.
The event also has charity purposes: when filling the tournament application, each team gave the name of the charity foundation to which the money prize collected by the event organisers is to be assigned. Moreover, this money prize will be tripled thanks to the generous contribution of Paddy Power, main sponsor of this event. ADIDAS will supply technical equipment.
The British Consulate General and UKTI welcome all football enthusiasts to the matches. Sport is GREAT and can strengthen the relationships between Italy and the UK.
Contact:
Raffaella Previtera
Head of Communications Team
British Consulate-General – UKTI
Via San Paolo 7
20121 Milan (Italy)
Tel: +39 02 72300 253/251/249
E-mail: communicationsmilan@fco.gov.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @uktiitalia @uktiitaly
Notes for editors
UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is the government department that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy. We also help overseas companies bring their high-quality investment to the UK’s dynamic economy acknowledged as Europe’s best place from which to succeed in global business.