Rome, 7 October 2024 - The 'Manlio Scopigno and Felice Pulici Award 2024' goes to Fabio Pecchia. The Parma Calcio Coach received the prestigious award today at CONI's Salone d'Onore in Rome as the best coach of the 2023-24 Serie B season, which he won with the Gialloblu (securing promotion to Serie A).

The event, which was held in conjunction with the ASD Scopigno Cup, an international youth football tournament, was hosted by TV presenter and writer Eleonora Rossi, who signed copies of Evaristo Beccalossi's biography 'La mia vita da numero 10' (My life as number 10), and hosted competently by journalist Giovanni Scaramuzzino, one of the iconic voices of “90 Minuto”. Dr Gianni Letta, the Prefect of Rieti, Dr. Pinuccia Niglio, the President of the Paralympic Committee, Luca Pancalli, and Professor Stefano Callipo, President of the Observatory for Violence and Suicide, took turns to award the prestigious prize to the winners of this edition: Simone Inzaghi (Inter Milan), best Serie A coach; Fabio Pecchia (Parma) and Cesc Fabregas (Como), best Serie B coaches; Emiliano Bigica (Sassuolo), best Primavera team coach; Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan), best Serie A player; Joel Pohjanpalo (Venezia), best Serie B player; Giuseppe Marotta (Inter) and Giovanni Sartori (Bologna), best Serie A CEOs; Roberto Samaden (Atalanta), best youth director; Antonio Percassi (Atalanta), best Serie A president; Michele Di Gregorio (Monza-Juventus), best Serie A goalkeeper; Andrea Fulignati (Catanzaro), best Serie B goalkeeper; Jacopo Volpi (RAI), best career journalist; Andrea Sorrentino (Il Messaggero) and Stefano Barigelli (La Gazzetta dello Sport), best print journalists; Monica Vanali (Mediaset) and Simona Rolandi (RAI), best TV journalists; Domenico Forletta (Radio Rai), best radio journalist; Riccardo Coli (Juventus), best press office manager; Leonardo Bonucci and Giovanni Galli, honoured for their illustrious careers.

Coach Fabio Pecchia said at the awards ceremony: 'Instead of giving advice to the youngsters, because this award is so close to them, I would like to give advice to those who work with young people. Create the environment, pay a lot of attention to them, because young people breathe what we create around them. You have to create the right environment around young people so that they can express themselves and their potential. We should have more advice for coaches and those who work with young people than the other way around.”

This year, the organising committee wanted to honour personalities from the world of entertainment as well as football, so Red Canzian, the historic bassist of Pooh, took to the stage. He took the opportunity to talk about his next project: 'Casanova Opera Pop', a musical that will tour China for 15 performances. Fabrizio Formichetti, president of the ASD Scopigno CUP and of the award itself, paid a moving tribute to the recently deceased president of the Italian Golf Federation, Franco Chimenti.