Italian coaches to train students

Uganda will this week be a beneficiary of coaching lessons from Italian Serie A club Sampdoria.

There will be even more to the Italy-Uganda initiative in fundraising for construction of infrastructure in West Nile.

Domenico Fornora, the Italian Ambassador to Uganda, says the first phase of this initiative will be a three-day football training-tournament.

Organised by the Sampdoria coaches, the tournament will be held on Friday and Saturday at Mvara Secondary School in Arua town.

Sampdoria has won the Scudetto (Italian Premier League) once, in 1991. They have also won the Italian Cup four times, and the Italian Super Cup once.

Their biggest European success came when they won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1990. They also reached the European Cup final in 1992, losing to Barcelona.

Disaster preparedness minister Hillary Onek will be one of the dignitaries at the event.

The Italian embassy is working jointly with the Office of the Prime Minister, Uganda Olympic Committee, United Nations High Commission for Refugees and Italian NGO ACAV.

The initiative aims at promotion of sport and integration of values amongst youths from refugee settlements and the local communities hosting them.

The Italians will use the occasion to also announce a three-year initiative intensifying their promotion of sport values and management promotion.

"We will also fundraise for the construction of infrastructure and facilities, which will serve both refugee and local communities," said Fornora.