In view of the Dream Euro Cup 2024, the European five-a-side football tournament for mental health, which will be held in Rome from 23 to 30 September, Palermo will host on Tuesday 16 April at 3pm, at The Best Club Palermo Sports Center, in Via Indro Montanelli 3, the Crazy for Football national team, already the world champion team, which will participate in the European Championship in September has been selected to represent the Azzurri.

Thanks to the contribution of the Sicilian Regional Association, national team selections will arrive for the first time on the island for two days of trials that will serve to determine which new Sicilian talent will be included in the Italian squad for the European encounter. Championship in the best way possible. Enrico Zanchini, coach of the Azzurri, explained: “Our journey towards the European competition in September continues – thanks to the support and assistance of the mental health services in Sicily, I am sure that many young people will participate that will certainly enrich them.” “Humanly and athletically, our national team is ours, and we are very keen for Sicily to also be represented in our national team.”

The national football team Crazy For Football, founded by psychiatrist Santo Rollo, is not just football but aims to encourage the spread of the sport in psychiatric rehabilitation courses and start a communication campaign against the stigma of mental illness. The boys in the team come from different cities and represent almost all the Italian regions, and gather periodically for training and matches wearing the blue jersey. The European Dream World Cup is organized by the non-profit association Ecos with a contribution from the European Commission as part of the Erasmus+sport program and sponsored by the Italian Football Federation.

The tests will start at 3 pm at The Best Club Palermo Sports Center with a training session and mini matches conducted by the national team's technical staff, where the boys will be able to express all their sporting and football skills. The initiative is implemented in collaboration with Asp of Catania and sponsored by Ars, the Municipality of Palermo, the Oda Foundation and the Uneba Association. All mental health professionals who intend to delve into Ecos projects to promote sport as a therapeutic tool for mental health will be able to participate and attend on this day.

The invitation to participate in the selections is addressed to all mental health services in the Region, to sports and community promotion bodies and to third sector associations that implement football activities as part of programs for people with psychosocial disabilities. To mental health. Each service, agency or association should pre-select children for testing and invite them to participate, either accompanied by the services themselves or independently, when possible.

“Crazy Football – added psychiatrist and head of the scientific committee Ikos Santo Rollo – represents not only a football team of 5 players, but is concrete proof that sport can be an essential treatment for the patient.” To participate, you must register or register the participating child in the “Be a Player” section on the project’s official website using this link: https://www.crazyforfootball.org/become-player/.