FSGC: new Social Responsibility Project officially unveiled

In the presence of Their Excellencies the Captains Regent Oscar Mina and Paolo Rondelli, the FSGC officially unveiled, in full detail, its Social Responsibility Project, with ambitious objectives focused on the overarching themes of human rights and environmental sustainability, all set for the year 2030. This framework, modelled on UEFA’s Football Sustainability Strategy, sees the San Marino Football Federation acting as a sort of hub and laboratory (together with five other medium-to-large federations) for a mission that will soon involve the other UEFA member associations as well. It is a major responsibility for the FSGC, which staged the launch event in the Press Room of the San Marino Stadium, with Michele Uva – Director of UEFA’s Football & Social Responsibility Division – joining Federation President Marco Tura, Secretary of State for Sport Teodoro Lonfernini and the FSGC Football Social Responsibility Officer Andrea Zoppis on the panel. In the audience were club and association executives and officers who collaborate on the FSGC’s initiatives, whose active participation will be one of the essential conditions for the project’s success, as Uva himself underlined during his speech. Before that, however, it fell to President Tura to give the welcome address. The head of the Federation set out the general principles of an initiative that follows in the footsteps of the FSGC’s long-standing social commitment, which began back in 2016 and has continued over the years with milestones that have also brought international recognition, such as the 2021 CAFE Award for improving stadium accessibility for blind fans through the provision of audio-descriptive commentary. The floor then passed to Secretary Lonfernini, who broadened the scope of his remarks by describing this project as an added value not only for the San Marino football system, but for the country system as a whole, confident that its values will take root and bear fruit within a community that has long been sensitive to these issues. Michele Uva began by congratulating the San Marino FA for having met the first of the commitments undertaken. "You have kept your word," said the UEFA director, "In July, in front of Their Excellencies the Captains Regent, you pledged to have your strategy ready by October, and that is exactly what you have done. In October, as you know, all UEFA member associations will be in Coverciano for a meeting dedicated precisely to these topics. And there, the San Marino FA will be presented as the flagship case that everyone can look to for inspiration. Why did we ask San Marino in particular to take the lead on this pilot project? Because you are a credible federation. Working with you is easy. UEFA launched this strategy in 2021, starting from an inverted premise compared to the previous approach. Until then, we were used to seeing football as a destination for the ills that afflict society. Racism, for example, certainly does not originate in stadiums, but it ends up there and unfortunately manifests itself there loudly. So we thought we should turn this perspective around. Today we want football to be the one that transmits its values to civil society. We may represent only a small part of people’s lives, but we can still do something. And the first step is to lead by example. That is how you are good leaders. Until then, UEFA had outsourced its projects to external bodies. Today it takes full responsibility for them. But UEFA cannot act alone. It needs all its member associations. And the clubs too. A football match is an incredible container of values. We all share the responsibility to act. Small actions are enough, almost all of them at zero cost. But, taken together, they can deliver significant results. We truly need everyone: the women and men of football, but also the institutions. San Marino has demonstrated its reliability and value by acting as a laboratory for this and future projects." It then fell to Andrea Zoppis to describe in detail this renewed – and structured – commitment by the FSGC. "This is a step forward within a long-running journey," began the FSGC Football Social Responsibility Officer, "The first real strategy dates back to 2020. It was published on our website and brought together all the initiatives carried out previously. For us, it is an honour today to have been chosen by UEFA to develop this pilot project. The individual initiatives of the past are being replaced by action plans and measurable indicators. Gradually we are becoming more systematic in pursuing our objectives, which are increasingly ambitious. To develop this project, we started from an analysis of the Sammarinese context and its specific characteristics. We then identified the specific values underpinning our strategy. From there we moved on to the definition of our vision and mission. The specific goals we have set for 2030 were modelled on the 11 policies identified by UEFA. These are specific areas into which the overarching themes of human rights and the environment are divided, the two pillars of the project. Seven of these policies belong to the first macro-area, four to the second. Each of these sub-areas has clear objectives. Not generic ones, but measurable. And this project comes into force as of today. But we must all remember that success will require teamwork. None of these objectives can be achieved without the help of all our stakeholders, including teams, coaches, fans and sponsors. However, many initiatives are already being launched. For example, the Walking Football project for patients with type 2 diabetes, which is getting under way precisely in this period." Still on the subject of projects that fit into the framework of this new strategy, but which in fact have been active or under development for some time, the details and founding principles of the initiative Football is Inclusion were also presented during the meeting at the Stadium; this will be launched on the pitch next Wednesday. More specifically, it was the Head of Youth Football at the FSGC, Jessica Guidi, and after her the Head of the Football is Inclusion Project, Fabio Lepri, who addressed the topic, focusing on the central importance of the role played by the FSGC, through its resources and channels, in delivering a programme that truly includes all aspiring footballers, including girls and boys with disabilities. The conviction that drives the designers and implementers of this project is very simple, as summed up by Lepri himself: "The work should not be done exclusively on the child with a disability, but on the others. With the goal of offering everyone the most suitable pathway to express the full extent of their potential."

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