St. Ambroeus FC Receives Golden Ambrogino Award
St. Ambroeus FC honored
Dec. 7 represents a special date for St. Ambroeus FC: since its founding, è it has been designated as the day to celebrate the club’s birthday. This year, the anniversary takes on an even more significant value, thanks to the awarding of the Ambrogino d’Oro by the City of Milan, in the form of the Attestato di Civica Benemerenza. Why’did the City Council decide to award the club’with this recognition? St. Ambroeus FC è a popular amateur soccer team that is committed to ensuring access to sports for anyone who lacks the means or opportunities to do so, such as refugees or asylum seekers, promoting soccer as a vehicle for inclusion and aggregation. The sports field represents a “home away from home” for many, especially those who face difficult paths of integration.
In collaboration with associations in Milan, such as Naga Onlus, CADMI, Dona un Sorriso and Comunità Nuova, it provides support in complex areas such as applications for residence permits, finding housing and work and health care. Great attention is also paid to women’s sports, with the aim of reducing the disparities’still present. “Over the years, St. Ambroeus FC has experienced steady growth. Currently, the club has 4 teams: 3 men’s, two engaged in senior championships (FIGC Third Category and CSI Open A) and one junior under-19 in the FIGC provincial championship, and one women’s, active in the 7-player CSI Open B championship. To date, about 100 male and female athletes attend the Cameroni Sports Center under the guidance of a technical staff composed exclusively of volunteers”, says Jonathan Misrachi, president of St. Ambroeus FC.
In just 6 years, as many as 520 players have been registered by the club, from more than 20 nations and 4 continents: among the countries represented are Gambia and Morocco in Africa, El Salvador and Perù in America, Iran in Asia and Ukraine in Eastern Europe. But it is not just about sports activities. The club’s supporters, the Pirate Army, stand out for their fundamental role in building a community’around the team and for their commitment to social work, for example, in this winter’s cold emergency with the “Se stai mai coi mani in mani” activity: a little help to those who during the coldest months are forced to sleep on the streets. As of this season è a project of “popular shareholding” has already involved about 300 people, who have become full-fledged members of St. Ambroeus. In parallel, projects aimed at the’entire community’are being developed, not just foreign nationals. With realities such as No League – Sportinzona and the Red Star, they participate in the Fairplay Arena consortium, which organizes sports events and initiatives at the Cameroni Center. Since its inception, St. Ambroeus FC has been able to combine a cosmopolitan vocation with strong ties to Milan. Evidence of this is the name, dedicated to the city’s patron saint; and the social colors white and red.
This recognition è was greeted with pride by the club, considering it a milestone in a journey that began more than 10 years ago, when the Black Panthers and Corelli Boys teams laid the groundwork for their unification in 2018 into St. Ambroeus FC. At the same time, this honor is an incentive to continue with greater intensity, despite all the daily difficulties. “St. Ambroeus FC operates on a self-management and self-financing basis, relying on members’ dues, donations, sponsors and calls for bids. However, the growth of the club is faced with limited resources and the structural difficulties of the Cameroni Sports Center, which would require urgent interventions. We thank the City of Milan for the’Ambrogino d’Oro, but we renew our request for concrete support from the institutions to ensure the continuityà of a project that represents a social and political reference point for the Milanese community”, concludes Jonathan Misrachi.
