Football, the story of the first autistic boy in an Italian league, Andrea Di Gregorio

Dream comes true. Because then the meaning of football, especially at an amateur level, is right here: inclusion, friendship, knowing how to experience the joy of running after a ball regardless of everything and everyone. So tomorrow morning in Rome for the first time in an absolute federal championship an autistic boy will play with a first team. It’s Andrea Di Gregorio, born in ’93, striker for Romulea, team in Group A of the Lazio Promotion. Di Gregorio will play at the center of the amaranth-gold attack against Fregene Maccarese, in the last match of the season. Also hunting for a goal that would be a fresco in a moment of football history.

The idea

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Appointment then at Campo Roma, 11 am, a stone’s throw from where Francesco Totti grew up and in front of the school attended in the 1980s by the former Giallorossi captain, in the San Giovanni district. There is nothing up for grabs, because Romulea is already mathematically second behind Aranova and Fregene Maccarese (tenth) safe for a while. And then what better opportunity to launch a gesture that goes beyond the field and is rooted in inclusion. In fact, Romulea has had its own team of autistic kids for some time (the Romulea Autistic Football Club) with which it participates in many initiatives in the social world and beyond. Thus the president Nicola Vilella has decided to launch a further message of social inclusion, allowing even those who have been less fortunate than others to experience (deservedly) the joy of feeling like a real footballer.

like the big ones

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And today Di Gregorio will play for one day where in the past many Serie A players such as Liverani, De Silvestri, Verre, Moscardelli, Biagioni, Baldieri, Di Carlo, Menichini, Penzo, Scaratti and Minieri started and where they grew up. also train someone like Andrea Stramaccioni. Before Di Gregorio, in 2019, the same thing had happened to Samuele Marongiu, registered with Giorgio Chiellini’s Insuperabili and who had once played with San Gallo Settimo in the Under 16. Now Di Gregorio will go further, playing directly with a first team in a federal championship game. And even if it won’t be Haaland, Benzema or Lewandoski, he’ll find a way to feel about it too. At least for a while.