The National Football Nurses’ team is born with Sinisa Mihajlovic as Coach
In this summer in which Italian sport has been right in the limelight, the FNOPI forms the National Football Nurses’ Team to support charitable activities of great value and transparency.
Barbara Mangiacavalli, President of FNOPI, the federation that represents over 456,000 nurses registered with the Order in Italy, said that “Competing means being able to face the sacrifice of being there and always being present, prepared and ready. These are the values that distinguish the nursing profession and now inspire many of our colleagues involved in this new challenge, which is also a sign of restart for professionals on the front line against the pandemic. We want to make our contribution by supporting charitable projects that can give a further boost to our country”.
It was November 2019 when, during a moving press conference at Dall’Ara stadium, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Coach of Bologna Football Club 1909, told his experience at Sant’Orsola and testified to the great professionalism and humanity of the health workers – a very important team in his fight against leukaemia.
Mihajlovic has now officially become the Coach of the mixed National Football Team of those same nurses who, from North to South, in the months of the pandemic. They not only made essential contributions to the fight against Covid, but they help citizens every day, from prevention to treatment.
Sinisa received the first official team jersey in Bologna from President Mangiacavalli and the captain, Daiana Campani, who, together with her colleague Luigi Di Bartolomeo, selected the initial group of footballing nurses. The Coach then had this to say: “Teamwork means being united, everyone fighting for the same goal, putting personal goals on the back burner to achieve a collective goal. ‘Our’ team, the nurses, have been by my side during my illness, even when my mood was bad; their dedication and love for their work has been inspiring and supportive and an example to all. During this pandemic, they risked their lives for the lives of others, sacrificing and bearing the signs of fatigue on their faces. I don’t want to forget what was done for me and for all of us, we need to be more aware of your professionalism. In my own small way I am proud to be the coach and to represent the Italian nurses”.
The team’s debut is scheduled for 30 August in Castiglion Fiorentino for the XXV Menarini International Fair Play Award. The National Nurses Team will make its debut against a representative team of sportsmen supporting an international children’s charity project.
