AC MILAN READY TO SUPPORT ASD BRIANTEA84 AND L'APD VHARESE

AC Milan is once again delighted to support two of the teams that will be competing in the Lombardy group of the Italian Football Federation's Paralympic and Experimental Football Division (Divisione Calcio Paralimpico e Sperimentale): more specifically, Briantea84 and Vharese.

When AC Milan face Salernitana at 15:00 CET on Saturday, five representatives from the two clubs will be present at San Siro to watch the match. Furthermore, among other things, they will do a lap of the pitch before kick-off to inaugurate the new DCPS season, which will kick off in January.

Based in Cantù, Briantea84 has defended the Rossoneri colours in this special tournament for several years now. Founded in 1984, the sports association and its 90 volunteers now offer more than 170 athletes the opportunity to test themselves in five Paralympic disciplines, with cultural projects alongside schools, sports clubs, parishes and promotional bodies also being carried out. These aim to enhance and raise awareness of Paralympic sport among young people.

On the other hand, the upcoming season marks the start of the Club's collaboration with Vharese, a multi-sports association founded in Varese in 2005 to broaden and reinforce fundamental concepts relating to sport and relational and social integration, as well as to promote a different culture when it comes to disability. As of now, the association has 166 athletes taking part in seven different disciplines and collaborates with numerous organisations and other associations to help promote social solidarity initiatives and offer new means and opportunities to integrate.

The 2021/22 DCPS edition will consist of ten regional groups, with the respective winners progressing to the next national phase. 93 registered clubs, 123 teams and around 3000 athletes will be involved. The action will begin in the new year, but Briantea84 and Vharese have already been provided with official AC Milan kits, which they’ll wear in test matches and then during all the games in their respective tournaments.

Established on 18 September 2019 thanks to a memorandum of understanding between the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and the Italian Paralympic Committee (CIP), the DCPS built on the launch of the "Quarta Categoria - calcio e disabilità" ("Fourth Category" - football and disability") project that was set in motion by the FIGC in 2016. This resulted in the organisation of the first national 7-a-side football tournament reserved for male and female footballers with cognitive-relational disabilities and psychiatric disorders. In 2017, the Centro Sportivo Italiano (CSI) got involved, leading to the creation of three different leagues at regional level: Quarta, Quinta and Sesta Categoria (Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Category). AC Milan was among the first nine professional clubs to immediately join the initiative, lending their support to Briantea84 right from the start.

Through the values of sport, AC Milan continues to promote a culture of inclusiveness and awareness and reiterates its commitment to pursue the ideals laid out in the Club’s RespAct Manifesto for equity, diversity and inclusion and, within this, the principle of Collaboration, through which it is committed to promoting initiatives and concrete action to stimulate change.