Igor De Amicis,  Paola Luciani

Fugees Football Club

Sport

Football is a universal language.

The five-a-side football tournament is a can’t-miss event in San Gregorio. The worn-out team of Fonte Vecchia knows their chances of winning are almost nil, given that the previous year they suffered a stunning defeat.

But when they arrive at their little field, they are in for a surprise: it’s occupied by a group of foreign boys, refugees staying at a reception center, waiting for a visa to emigrate to a safe place. They are incredibly strong, and if those boys played with them in the tournament, the other teams wouldn’t stand a chance. The idea is crazy, and the stakes are extremely high. Especially because Paolo’s father, the team captain, keeps saying that refugees are ruining Italy, an opinion shared by other residents of the town. But the fuse has been lit, and many surprises lie ahead…

  • A novel loosely inspired by a true story.
  • Sport is portrayed as a union of traditions, stories, languages, and lives that seem distant but are, in fact, connected.
Publisher: Einaudi Ragazzi (Italy)
Target: 10+
Year: 2019
Author
Igor De Amicis

Igor De Amicis was born in Rome in 1976. Chief Commissioner of the Penitentiary Police, he shares his passion for writing with his wife Paola Luciani. Together they have written Giù nella miniera (Down the Mine), selected for the Bancarellino Prize 2017 reading project and winner of the Special Children’s Prize at the Parco Majella Prize 2017. Also for Einaudi Ragazzi, they have written Fugees Football Club, Igor Trocchia. A calcio al razzismo (Igor Trocchia. A Kick to Racism), Roberto Mancini nella terra dei fuochi (Roberto Mancini in the Ground of the Fires), L’ultima verità (The Ultimate Truth) and various titles of the Classicini, Grandissimi and Che storia! series. For Il Battello a Vapore, they have published Il mistero delle lettere senza nome (The Mystery of the Nameless Letters). Igor has also published several noir novels for adults, including La settima lapide (Dea Planeta), O’ Regno (Salani) and Gioventù criminale (Criminal Youth), Piemme. Paola has also published several essays and monographs on the world of education. The pair’s books have been translated in several countries (Greece, Spain, Poland, South America, Japan, Germany, etc.)

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Author
Paola Luciani

Paola Luciani was born in Pescara in 1980. A support teacher in primary schools, she invents, imagines and writes her stories together with her husband Igor De Amicis. Together they have written Giù nella miniera (Down the Mine), selected for the Bancarellino Prize 2017 reading project and winner of the Special Children’s Prize at the Parco Majella Prize 2017. Also for Einaudi Ragazzi, they have written Fugees Football Club, Igor Trocchia. A calcio al razzismo (Igor Trocchia. A Kick to Racism), Roberto Mancini nella terra dei fuochi (Roberto Mancini in the Ground of the Fires), L’ultima verità (The Ultimate Truth) and various titles of the Classicini, Grandissimi and Che storia! series. For Il Battello a Vapore, they have published Il mistero delle lettere senza nome (The Mystery of the Nameless Letters). Igor has also published several noir novels for adults, including La settima lapide (Dea Planeta), O’ Regno (Salani) and Gioventù criminale (Criminal Youth), Piemme. Paola has also published several essays and monographs on the world of education. The pair’s books have been translated in several countries (Greece, Spain, Poland, South America, Japan, Germany, etc.)

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