An alliance between sport and education

It is official: Sassuolo is a partner of Modena and Reggio Emilia University (Unimore) in Central Italy. The agreement was signed at the Modena University Rectorate in the presence of Marcello Pellicciari, the University’s delegate for sport, Giovanni Carnevali, General and Managing Director of Sassuolo Calcio, and Andrea Fabris, Sassuolo’s General Secretary. The agreement will last for three years, tacitly extendable to six.

MISSION

The agreement will allow Unimore students to complete internships at Sassuolo’s facilities and, eventually, those of any partners that might be interested. They will also benefit from reduced prices for ordinary tickets and season tickets to the club’s matches. Sassuolo will make its technicians and facilities available to Modena and Reggio Emilia University Committee to help promote sport. The Mapei-owned football club and Unimore will arrange incentives to reward the best students, also promoting international trips to attend training courses, conventions and sports events etc. It is the first time an Italian Serie A football team has been so committed to officially engaging with the academic world.

BRITISH INSPIRATION

“This Protocol – so professor Marcello Pellicciari told us at the official presentation - will allow our university to take another step forward in building an Anglo-Saxon style university aimed at combining education and physical well-being viewed as complementary aspects of everyday life. Partnering a successful club like Sassuolo will raise the status of our university”. Giovanni Carnevali had this to say: “We are delighted to sign this contract with Unimore to strengthens our ties with the local region. Our aim is to provide the means for both Unimore and Sassuolo to grow, creating interaction between two seemingly distant world’s whose common denominator is young people. I hope this will provide young people with plenty of opportunities for study and work: the sports industry is growing rapidly and requires increasing expertise in various fields. We hope to be able to find them in partnership with Unimore”. Andrea Fabris has been working on this project for over a year: “Our ambition was to reach this goal - so Sassuolo’s General Secretary told us - so that we could arrange an agreement that was a real opportunity to create continuity between various realms of activity. The partnership is already underway: some students from Unimore are already working with our experts in orthopaedics”. The working partnership will not just be in the realms of physiotherapy, medicine and orthopaedics. “It will also encompass communications, marketing and administration”, so Mr Fabris concluded. A steering committee has also been set up: this “Technical Table” will be composed of the President of Unimore Sports Committee and the President of Modena and Reggio Emilia University Sports Committee, together with Mr Carnevali and Mr Fabris. Annual reports will be drawn up on various projects underway or already completed.