EFDN welcomes Cagliari Calcio to the network

EFDN welcomes Cagliari Calcio to the network

The European Football for Development Network (EFDN) is happy to announce Italian Serie A club Cagliari Calcio to the network.  The Sardinian-based side wants to benefit from new opportunities and give greater visibility to their projects and initiatives on local and European levels. By exchanging experiences and opinions within the network, Cagliari will improve the quality of its CSR programmes.

Cagliari Calcio is the most important team in Sardinia, an island known for its millenary history and for its strong bond with its inhabitants. The club is a unique case in the Italian league because it is the only club that represents an entire region: from the north to the south of the island every Sardinian feels connected to the red and blue club colors.

Founded in 1920, they won their only Scudetto, Italian league title in 1969-1970, when they were led by the Italians national team’s all-time leading scorer, Gigi Riva. The triumph was also the first by a club from south of Rome.

Hubert Rovers, CEO of EFDN: ‘We are really pleased to welcome Cagliari Calcio to our network. With Cagliari Calcio the European Football for Development Network expands its work in Italy. The Serie A club is a unique case in the Italian league because it represents the island of Sardinia and every Sardinian feels connected to the red and blue colors of the club. Together we hope to share our experiences and help to develop the impact of the club in their community.’

The club states: ‘Joining the EFDN is a further step along a path that has been undertaken over the years, culminating in the recent launch of a manifesto, #BeAsOne. It is a strong, clear declaration of intent regarding Cagliari Calcio’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, embodied in the numerous projects launched and developed together with the ‘Carlo Enrico Giulini’ Foundation and various partners. “We are one” is the guiding philosophy for the projects and synergies that will increasingly characterise every area of the Club, under the banner of cornerstones such as Equality, Inclusion and Sustainability. ‘Love’, against all barriers and discrimination against any category; ‘Think’ to think of an increasingly inclusive society and world; ‘Move’ for the attention to sustainability issues in the broadest sense.’

Cagliari Calcio has always stood out for initiatives with a high social impact. Their stances in favour of the LGBTQI community and against all forms of discrimination somehow paved the way to other Italian teams and they have received many awards that clearly show their commitment. The club is ready to share the knowledge they acquired in these years with the other members of the community, in order to exchange knowledge that matches a win-win logic.

For all these reasons Cagliari Calcio is aware to have a great responsibility and the club’s aim is to make the fans proud to be part of a big family that shares values such as respect, inclusion and sustainability, in and out of the pitch. The club strongly believes in the need to start a cultural revolution to protect the dignity of every person.

They believe in the ethical meaning of sport and because of this strong conviction they initialised various projects such as:

• ‘Scuola di Tifo’
• Sustainability initiatives
• ‘Casteddu4Special’
• Love as One

Click here to see Cagliari Calcio’s memberpage