ZANETTI AND FRIENDS MATCH FOR EXPO MILANO 2015: INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL TAKES THE FIELD FOR NUTRITION ON MAY 4TH Sport and Solidarity take the field at the San Siro Stadium for a charity event dedicated to children’s nutrition. Great champions of the past and present together to promote sports and the culture of food MILAN (ITA), February 5th, 2015 – Football, entertainment and food are the main ingredients of the charity game scheduled for May 4, 2015 at 9.00pm, in the beautiful setting of the San Siro stadium in Milan. The event will see the participation of the best present and recent past players of the Milanese teams and of the most important international football clubs who share a connection with the City and the friendship with Javier Zanetti – legendary captain and current Vice President of F.C. Internazionale Milano, founder of Fondazione PUPI – recently appointed Expo Milano 2015 Ambassador. An evening of great sports and entertainment sponsored by Fondazione P.U.P.I. Onlus in collaboration with Expo Milano 2015 and the City of Milan to celebrate and symbolically embrace the beginning of the Universal Exposition in Milan that, from May 1 to October 31, 2015, will welcome more than 20 million people from 144 countries. Zanetti and Friends Match for Expo Milano 2015 aims at finding the necessary resources to support activities for children. The event is directly managed by Fondazione PUPI, a nonprofit organization that has been working in Argentina for more than 10 years, and is active in designing and developing paths to support the main needs of the little ones (www.fondazionepupi.org). BUILDING A SHARED US PROJECT The interventions of the foundation, promoted by the Zanetti family, fall within the two-year action plan for 2015/16 entitled “Building a shared US”, also on the path carved out by the support to children and teenagers both in Argentina and Italy. Part of the funds raised – and in particular all the proceeds of the sale of the Zanetti and Friends Match for Expo Milano 2015 tickets – will be used to support projects that will be developed in the City of Milan. In this regard, an Evaluation Group – identified by the board of directors of the Fondazione PUPI – will aim at identifying organizations acting in the field of childhood, education, qualification, prevention and/or sports/education, which can be helped with concrete institutional support. They all should be united by the attention they pay to spreading healthy and virtuous principles such as the promotion of diversity through the development of minorities, and the cooperation for the growth of a society whose primary goal is building a shared “US”. For the overall assessment of the project proposed, the requesting organization will be asked to provide all necessary data together with the drafting of the project, following the model form for submission of projects that the Fondazione PUPI will provide, and that will be available shortly on the website of the event www.zanettiandfriends.com. For further information on the foundation: www.fondazionepupi.org Facebook: Fondazione PUPI – Twitter: @FondazionePUPI – Instagram: @fondazionepupi To give your 5x1000 to the Fondazione PUPI: 95073400137 “Organizing a football show on the occasion of the Universal Exposition is an exceptional opportunity and at the same time a great responsibility. I want to thank Milan Expo 2015 and the city of Milan that are investing great energy with all of us at PUPI” said Javier Zanetti: “Through the intervention plan of ‘Building a shared US’, our foundation will support a number of projects aimed at children and their families in Milan. Once again, sport and football are called to perform their more authentic and valuable function, that is to convey positive messages and actively contribute to improve things. A commitment that makes me proud and I am sure that we will make the most of it.” “When Javier Zanetti told me about this initiative for the first time, I immediately caught the excitement in his eyes.” Said Mayor of Milan Giuliano Pisapia: “A proposal that results in an event open to all and at the same time in a special and solidarity opportunity for the underprivileged, especially for the families who are struggling to feed their children. I thought that combining sport and solidarity through Expo and the themes of the Universal Exposition was a winning idea and an opportunity that Milan, the city in which Zanetti has been living for twenty years, had to take. Together we have also thought to involve schools and so children, to make them protagonists of an extraordinary event. Thanks to the collaboration with the Provveditorato, they will be entrusted with the task of creating the banners that will be displayed on the field during the game. Through images, writings and drawings of children and teenagers we want to send a strong message about the right to a good and healthy diet and nutrition for all, a primary right for every human being,” said the mayor. “Since we took the challenge of the Expo 2015, we thought that the “Feed the Planet Energy for Life” subject shouldn't involve only the City of Milan, it should go beyond. The Zanetti and Friends Match for Expo Milano 2015 is an extraordinary occasion to make our purpose come true. With this international soccer match we will have the chance to sensitize million of people, young people most of all, to the adoption of an healthy, sustainable and careful to the others lifestyle. Solidarity and sport are the perfect combination to tell the theme of the Universal Exposition”, declared Giuseppe Sala, Chief Executive Officer of Expo Milano 2015. THE PROJECT FOR SCHOOLS Also, it will be a special occasion for Milan schools and students. Upon the recommendation of the City of Milan and thanks to the collaboration of the Province education office, about 5,000 students of primary, middle and high schools will be actively involved in the preparation of the event. They may, in fact, participate in a ‘competition’ to make banners to take to the stadium, obviously following the theme of Expo that is food and healthy eating. The primary school class that will create the more creative banner will accompany the players on the field, while the middle school winning class will make a tour of the stadium and get to know their heroes. All participants of the primary, middle and sports high schools will be granted free access to the game. Students from other high schools and all accompanying persons will enter the stadium with a discount of 50%. The schools and classes that want to join must submit their request by March 23rd, and upload an image of the banner in the section of the official website of the event www.zanettiandfriends.com by April 18th. Ticket presale will start from the second half of February on the platform www.vivaticket.it by Best Union. All details, the protagonists that will take the field and the latest updates are available on the official website www.zanettiandfriends.com, on social networks www.facebook.com/ZanettiandFriends, www.twitter.com/matchforexpo and on the Zanetti and Friends Youtube channel. The official hashtag for the event is #MatchForExpo. STARBIZ PRESS OFFICE CONTACTS: Marco Girotto +39 335 8015911 Luca Casassa +39 334 6937520 Office: +39 02 67373830 Email: [email protected]