Monza, Italy—Soccer players representing more than 15 nationalities, including refugees newly arrived in Italy, competed for the UPF Peace Cup.
Real Monza was the winning team, beating Centro Mamma Rita (CMR 50), Oratorio San Francesco from the town of Muggiò, and CPIA Monza e Brianza.
The event, organized by UPF-Monza, took place at the Sada Stadium in the northern Italian city of Monza on Saturday, June 27, 2015.
The event started with the games of the Three-Teams Freedom Cup, in which the teams Sudamerica, UPF-Italy and Tibet competed. UPF-Italy was the winning team, defeating Sudamerica 6 to 0, and then Tibet 4 to 0. Sudamerica came in second place, defeating Tibet 2 to 1.
For the Tibetan players the afternoon in Monza was first of all an opportunity for meeting other people, especially fellow Tibetan emigres. "We came here from all over [the region of] Lombardy," said one player, “and some of us even from far away as Verona, almost one hundred miles from here. For all of us, the Peace Cup is a rendezvous we can’t miss!"
The UPF-Italy team comprised a winning mix of many nations. Peruvian-Italians played together with Chinese-Italians and German-Italians, seemingly understanding each other quite well, at least on the soccer field. Being real sportsmen, at the end of the tournament they didn’t waste words: “We are satisfied with our game; we were expecting a good result."
After the Three-Teams Tournament, the Peace Cup competition started with a match between Oratorio San Francesco and Real Monza, followed by one between CMR 50 and CPIA Monza e Brianza. The final result was: Real Monza (7 points), CMR 50 (6 points), CPIA Monza (2 points) and Oratorio San Francesco (1 point).
"Sport has the power to change the world and bring people together," said Carlo Chierico, the president of UPF-Monza, during the awards ceremony. "This is a phrase by Nelson Mandela, and we have demonstrated its truth once again this year. That’s why I want to dedicate a thought to the founder of the Universal Peace Federation, Dr. Sun Myung Moon, who passed away in 2012. It was he who founded the first Peace Cup.”
The prizes were given to the athletes by Silvano Appiani, managing director for sports of the Municipality of Monza; Martino Cazzaniga, vice president of the provincial chapter of the Italian Association for Sports; and Pierluigi Frosio, a former player and captain of the Premier League Perugia soccer team. Mr. Frosio gave the kickoff of the first game in the afternoon, and at the end of the tournament designated the best player: Ismail, from the CMR 50 team.
"This interethnic tournament is a wonderful initiative, which allows us to gather here, on a soccer field, children from all over the world, sometimes with difficult stories behind them," said Mr. Frosio. "In a context such as this the purely competitive aspect of the tournament fades into the background. The most important thing is that these guys, so different among them, have been able to spend a nice afternoon together in mutual respect and based on the best values of sport."
In the end the winner is the best sport, the cheerful and colorful sport, consisting of fun, healthy competition and the desire to be together.