PRESS RELEASE
World-Cup-Winning Football Coach From Italy to Lead Workshops in Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines
On May 2-5, 2016, Italian World-Cup winning football coach Marcello Lippi will be in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda to lead two high-level football workshops with coaches from Caribbean countries.
Mr. Lippi, who coached Italy to the 2006 FIFA World Cup title in Germany, will conduct the special courses in two sessions. On May 2-3, he will be in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where he will lead workshops for coaches from Guyana, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and the host country. On May 4-5, he will then be in St. John, Antigua and Barbuda, where he will lead workshops for coaches from the Bahamas, Belize, Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda.
The course will take place under the auspices of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC), and the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations in New York with the collaboration of the Permanent Missions to the UN of Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“As recognized by the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, sport has always been an important driver of peace and development for nations,” said Sebastiano Cardi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Italy to the UN. “And football in particular is a universal sport that is played in every corner of the globe. For decades,” Ambassador Cardi added, “football has never ceased to attract and excite fans.”
In addition to the World Cup honor, Mr. Lippi has won the UEFA Champions League with Juventus in 1996, five Italian championships (with Juventus: 1995, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003), three Chinese Super League titles, one Italian Cup, one Chinese FA Cup, four Italian Super Cups, one AFC Champions League, one UEFA Super Cup and one Intercontinental Cup.
Ambassador Cardi explained how the main reason behind the initiative is to bring to the Caribbean region a taste of the Italian football experience.
“For CARICOM countries, football is one of the sports most passionately followed, and national Caribbean teams are regularly represented in international competitions,” Ambassador Cardi said. “For these reasons, together with CONI, FIGC and the Permanent Missions of Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, we wanted to draw on this experience and professionalism to further enhance the football skills of the national teams of CARICOM countries.”
