National team, a field named after Gianluca Vialli: Roberto Mancini’s touching remembrance

Field 3 at CPO ‘Giulio Onesti’ in Rome will bear the name of Gianluca Vialli

There was great emotion at CPO ‘Giulio Onesti’ in Rome during the ceremony to name Field 3 after Gianluca Vialli, the great former soccer player and team manager of the national team at Euro 2020, who passed away last January 6 after a long illness.

Among those present were CONI president Giovanni Malagò, FIGC president Gabriele Gravina, CONI vice-president Silvia Salis, CIP president Luca Pancalli, CONI and FIGC general secretaries Carlo Mornati and Marco Brunelli, former federal presidents Franco Carraro and Giancarlo Abete, as well as head coach Roberto Mancini and the Azzurri, who held a training session on the field before departing in the afternoon for the ‘Forte Village Resort’ in S. Margherita di Pula (Cagliari). Exceptional spectators also included some 30 young patients from the ‘Bambino Gesù’ Children’s Hospital, with which the FIGC, and the National Team in particular, have promoted a series of joint initiatives in recent years.

“Two years ago we were here and running. He was happy, despite his illness,” recalled a moved Roberto Mancini. “I thank Malagò for this initiative and Gravina for letting Gianluca join our team. They were two wonderful years: he will always be part of our heart, he left us physically but he is always with us.”