Enrico Sbardella and Stefano D’Ottavio will organise, in association with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), a football clinic for 30 young players from Tuvalu from 1 to 13 June. It will be the second clinic organised for international football cooperation projects by the MAECI and the FIGC, the Italian Football Federation, after the one organised by Marcello Lippi in St. Vincent and Antigua from 2 to 5 May.
Enrico Sbardella is the coach of the Women’s Under-19 National Team and, in 2013, he won the bronze medal at the Women’s Under-17 World Championship. Stefano D’Ottavio is professor at Rome’s Tor Vergata University and coordinator of the athletic trainers of Women’s National Teams.
The new project with Tuvalu is based on the collaboration between the MAECI and the FIGC in developing cooperation projects through Italian football, a privileged channel for promoting Italy in areas that are important for Italian diplomacy.
The choice of Tuvalu is consistent with Italy’s growing support to small Island States in the Pacific, whose very existence is threatened by climate change, which turns them into important partners in multilateral forums on the environment, climate and renewable energy sources
