David De Gea has earned the Building Kindness Award.

An Award that values gestures of attention, care and kindness to others through sports. The Let’s Build Kindness Award with the traditional jersey that is its symbol, designed by children, was presented to Fiorentina goalkeeper David De Gea.
The player’s report came from a group of little girls and boys from the Tuscan capital who asked that the award be given to De Gea for his gesture of closeness and support for a young Florentine goalkeeper engaged in a battle against illness. His message then generated other words of closeness that came from goalkeepers of other teams.

Aldo Seghedoni

The handover took place at the Rocco B. Commisso Viola Park with Gaia Simonetti and Noemi Salvati, ambassadors of the ’Cor et Amor Association, which gives life to the national project Let&#8217s Build Kindness, and with Leonardo Margarito, Artistic Director of the “Il Magnifico” Festival, which for the occasion has started a collaboration precisely with the “Let’Let&#8221s Build Kindness Award;”

“We are honored to have been able to present David De Gea with the Building Kindness in Sport Award, which is also linked with an ideal thread to the figure of goalkeepers – said Gaia Simonetti and Noemi Salvati – with the Award that was born, in 2022, taking inspiration precisely from the heartfelt gesture of Guglielmo Vicario, among the first to host a family that fled the atrocities of war. We thank l’ACF Fiorentina for giving us the opportunity to fulfill the wish of a group of girls and children who had pointed us to the name of the purple goalkeeper for his commitment to social work and for his gesture of the heart, of closeness and support to a young goalkeeper battling an illness. Over the four years of the Award’s existence, more than 30 women and men from sports and sports clubs have been honored for their good deeds toward others”.

De Gea was also given an award from the Festival il Magnifico, a kermis of national importance that enhances the talents of young people under 35 linked to the world of culture, entertainment and sports throughout Italy. The Award –excellent work of Florentine artistic craftsmanship made by Paolo Penko–s Bottega Orafa –represents the most important event of the Festival, which has won national recognition, including a mention as “best young cultural review of 2024” received at Casa Sanremo, the official hospitality area of the Italian Song Festival.

“The special delivery of the ‘Building Kindness in Sport Award’ to David De Gea represents for our Festival a moment of great cultural and symbolic significance – explained Leonardo Margarito, Artistic Director of Festival Il Magnifico– also because our initiative was created to tell about youth excellence not only as talent, but as responsibility, measure and awareness: values that in sports, when embodied by authentic people, become universal language. The presence of David De Gea today in Florence adds an additional value to this recognition: that of the link with a city that lives sport as an integral part of its cultural and civic identity. The collaboration with the Building Kindness in Sport Award is natural and valuable for us, because we share the same vision: culture, like sport, only makes sense if it is capable of generating relationships, education and positive impact on new generations. I sincerely thank journalist Gaia Simonetti for making this connection possible and for seizing the opportunity to bring to Festival Il Magnifico a figure like David De Gea, whose human and professional profile dialogues perfectly with our audience and with the identity of the festival. Welcoming a name of such prominence means reaffirming that Il Magnifico is an open, contemporary space, capable of bringing into dialogue sport, thought and shared values”.