BRAZIL – It was the summer of 1997, when a fresh-faced Ronaldo, well on his way to stardom, was unveiled to the press with a previously unseen Nerazzurri shirt featuring the Inter Campus logo. In those same months began the adventure which would start in Recife, but spread to 30 different locations in the country today.
While Brazilian culture has always been deeply intertwined with the game of football, a symbol of redemption and integration, of equal dignity and national pride, from that moment onwards, Nerazzurri colours were also intertwined with green and gold. A natural relationship filled with history and passion through which Inter Campus, over the past twenty years, has carved out an important place for itself.
In an era marked by so many South Americans thriving at the Club, the Nerazzurri social project played an even more fundamental role, appealing to the national identity so key to the dreams of all of those young people in the country, playing on cracked fields with makeshift balls. From Recife to the rest of the country: in the space of just a few months Inter Campus had arrived in the favelas of Rio, Sao Paolo and Pititinga in Rio Grande do Norte, entering the lives of thousands of young boys and girls.
In the meantime, Brazil flew to World Cup success over Germany at the 2002 edition of the tournament, much in thanks to a brace from Ronaldo who was on his way out at Inter. That final, featuring a touch of Italian thanks to referee Collina, saw Brazil crowned World Champions for the fifth time in history: “pentacampeones”, as they often remind us.
Then came the Inter Campus World Cups at the end of 2009 in Tuscany, during the season of the treble for Maicon, Lucio, Julio Cesar, and Thiago Motta. Once again, on fields around the world, Brazilian children affirmed their abilities and joy, with the carefree style typical of their tradition. Carefree spirit, music, and fun – this is their approach to life, reflected in sports.
But as often happens, new challenges were on the horizon: the World Cup arrived in Brazil, and two years later, the Olympics, bringing the complexity of organizing and managing two major events in a country that made – and still makes – its contrasts a distinctive feature. Social and political protests, many of which touched us closely. One in particular was the barrier erected along the road, on the route from Rio’s airport to the beaches. Once, driving by, you could see the communities and our small fields, always crowded with children despite the time or scorching heat, far from Ipanema and Copacabana. But it was a side of Brazil that authorities did not want to show arriving tourists.
In the end, the Seleção lost, in the famous 1-7 home defeat against Germany, whom they had beaten in the final just a few years prior. It was an important moment of analysis, of reflection, which, between one goal and another, concealed much more than a simple match. A profound mortification and a wound difficult to heal.
The first Inter Campus children, those who had started young in 1997, were now adolescents, on the path to adulthood, some already with children and families. Formed by the values of sport and the Nerazzurri philosophy, inspired, it is hoped, by the respect that football demands towards teammates and opponents. Many embarked on a future full of hope, the same future that Brazil still faces, despite many social problems and developmental challenges.
The opening of the most recent center, in Camocim, in 2016, thanks to the support of a partner who, like us, believes in the educational value of football, was a way to reaffirm that Inter Campus does not stop; on the contrary: we are a growing family, caring for and nurturing the generations of tomorrow.
Victories and defeats, metaphors for the ups and downs that life offers each of us. Moments that we hope our children will know how to face in the best way, thanks also to the years spent together on those dirt fields where Inter Campus never tires of playing.
