Art and football collide in Metz and Turin for World Cup 2018

On June 9, 2018, a football match blending art and sport took place at the Dezavelle Stadium in Metz, organized to symbolically fill the void of Italy's absence from the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The match pitted Squadra Diaspora, a team of Italian migrants assembled by artist Paolo Del Vecchio, against A.S. Velasca from Milan, described as the world's most artistic football club. Del Vecchio designed blue jerseys for his players that reference Italian emigration. A.S. Velasca was founded by Marco De Girolamo, Karim Khideur, Loris Mandelli, Clément Tournus, and artist Wolfgang Natlacen. The match was refereed by artist Massimo Furlan, who reprised his 2003 performance "Furlan/Numero Ventitre" by impersonating Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno, who controversially officiated Italy's 2002 World Cup elimination. The event was under the patronage of the Centre Pompidou Metz. A.S. Velasca won 3-1. Professional player Nicola Sansone, an Italian forward for Villarreal, also participated. Separately, the 12th edition of the Balon Mundial tournament for migrant communities in Turin, running from June 16 to July 29, 2018, received support from the Museo Egizio di Torino for the first time. The museum offered a special ticket rate from June 15 to September 15, 2018, for participating communities to promote intercultural dialogue through sport.