Hope for the Future

Portugal - Póvoa de Lanhoso

Second meeting

13 -17 May 2013

Learning Europe:

Culture & Civilization

Sports in Italy have a long tradition. In numerous sports, both individual and team, Italy has good representation and achieved many successes. Football is the most popular sport in Italy. Basketball, Volleyball, and Cycling are the next most popular sports, with Italy having a rich tradition in these fields. Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and it is currently the second most successful football team in World Cup history, after Brazil, having won four FIFA World Cup championships. Italy also has strong traditions in rugby union, tennis, athletics, fencing, and other sports.

Football is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italian national football team has won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006), second only to Brazil (with 5). Italy's club teams have won 27 major European trophies, making them the most successful nation in European football. The Italian word for football is calcio, and this is the word used to refer to the sport in Italy, as opposed to football in England or soccer in the United States and Canada.

Italy is one of the main basketball nations in Europe, along with Spain, Serbia, Greece, Slovenia, Lithuania, Croatia, Russia, Turkey and France. It has a long and rich tradition in this sport. The Italian national basketball team's best results were gold at Eurobasket 1983 and EuroBasket 1999, as well as silver at the Olympics in 2004. Until the 200s, the Italian League was considered the strongest domestic league outside of North America. It has recently been overtaken by the Spanish ACB, but is still one of the top leagues in Europe, along with the Russian PBL the Greek A1 Ethniki, the Adriatic League, and the Baltic League. Famous club teams include Olimpia Milano, Pallacanestro Varese , Pallacanestro Cantù, Virtus Bologna, Fortitudo Bologna, Scavolini Siviglia Pesaro, Benetton Treviso, Montepaschi Siena, Basket Napoli, Virtus Roma, Pallacanestro Trieste, and Juvecaserta Basket.

Volleyball (pallavolo) is played by a lot of amateur players, and professional players compete in the Italian Volleyball League. The male and female national teams are often in the top 4 ranking of teams in the world, regarded as the best volleyball league in the world.

Gymnastics is a very popular sport in Italy. The Italian team won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games and reached the 4th place at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Valentino Rossi is a professional motorcycle racer and multiple MotoGP World Champion. He is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, with nine Grand Prix World Championships to his name – seven of which are in the premier class. He races with the number 46.

Valentina Vezzali, 44 medals between Olympics Games, World and European Championships.

Federica Pellegrini is a swimmer. She holds the women's 200 m freestyle (long course and short course) and 400 m (long course) freestyle world record, but she finished fifth in both events at the London 2012 Olympics.

Tania Cagnotto is a diver. She is the first Italian female diver to win a medal in a World Championship.

Alberto Tomba is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Italy. He was the dominant technical skier (slalom and giant slalom) in the late 1980s and 1990s. Tomba won three Olympic gold medals, two World Championships, and nine World Cup season titles; four in slalom, four in giant slalom, and one overall title. He was popularly called ”Tomba the Bomb”.

The first leagues were started by English immigrants in the 1890 in Italy. The first club was Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club (now Genoa Cricket & Football Club). Initially there were separate leagues for Italians and foreigners, they merged around 1897. In March 1898, the Italian Football Federation (Federazione Italiana del Football) began .

JUVENTUS CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2 TIMES EUROPEAN LEAGUE 8 TIMES ITALIAN LEAGUE 28 TIMES

MILAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 7 TIMES EUROPEAN LEAGUE 7 TIMES ITALIAN LEAGUES 18TIMES

INTERNAZIONALE

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 3TIMES EUROPEAN LEAGUE 6TIMES ITALIAN LEAGUE 18TIMES