ACF Fiorentina President Giuseppe B. Commisso joined Italian football legends and FIFA President Gianni Infantino during their visit to New York on June 7, 2026. It was an exciting and memorable day for the Italian-American community and football fans alike, ahead of the opening of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Below, we are pleased to share the speech delivered by President Commisso before the FIFA Legends Match held at Columbia University’s Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.

FIFA Legends Match Speech

Giuseppe B. Commisso | June 7, 2026 | 

Columbia University's Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium

Good evening. To FIFA President Gianni Infantino, to Don Luigi Portarulo, to the Grow Together Foundation, to Columbia University, to the great players with us today, to the children and families here, and to the Italian-American community that has filled this stadium: thank you, and benvenuti.

This is not just a match. It is a day of faith, family, heritage, and football. It began today at the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, continued with young people meeting heroes they will remember for the rest of their lives, and now brings us here, to Columbia University’s Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium on the very same field where my father Rocco once played.

I want to thank Don Luigi and FIFA for inviting me to speak at this event and for giving me the honor of commemorating my father here today. Don Luigi had the vision to bring this celebration to New York City, and through Marco Messina, he contacted me with the idea of holding it here. He immediately understood why this stadium was the right place. My father loved football, loved children, and believed that talent must be built, guided, and given opportunity. Bringing this event here feels like something my father himself would have wanted to do, and I know he would be looking down on this field today with tremendous pride.

And let me say something about Don Luigi. Who else could bring together Mass, FIFA, the Italian community, children, families, world-class players, and a packed stadium all for one day? And who could imagine that the person to do it would be a priest? Who is this guy? Don Luigi, you are a very special person with a wonderful heart. Through the Grow Together Foundation, you have shown that faith, Italian culture, charity, and sport can come together in a beautiful way. Yesterday was your birthday, so today, in front of this entire stadium, I want to say happy birthday and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I also want to thank President Infantino for being here with us, for helping make this special event possible, and for the respect he has shown to my father, to Fiorentina, and to the future of Italian Football. President Infantino, I will never forget your visit to the Rocco B. Commisso Viola Park during its construction, and I am grateful for the message you shared when that training center was inaugurated. For our family and for Fiorentina, that support meant a great deal.

This event belongs in New York. Here in the New York metropolitan area, we are home to the largest Italian-American community of any metropolitan area in the United States. This is a community built on faith, family, sacrifice, hard work, pride, and love for both America and Italy. Today, all of that is present on this field.

To the great players here with us today, thank you. Let me first recognize Andrea Pirlo, Marco Materazzi, Alessandro Nesta, Vincenzo Iaquinta, and Cristian Zaccardo, members of Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning team. Roberto Baggio, Christian Vieri, Cristian Panucci, and Gianluca Pagliuca also represented Italy on the World Cup stage, with Baggio and Vieri proudly wearing the Fiorentina shirt. Giuseppe Rossi and Massimo Ambrosini represented Italy with pride, and both also wore the Viola colors. Each of you represents an important chapter in the story of Italian Football. You have given unforgettable memories to generations of fans, and today you are giving something even more important to the children here: a dream they can see with their own eyes.

When I was 13 years old, my father, my family, and I followed Italy at the 1994 World Cup. We went to almost every Italy match, except the final in California. I watched Roberto Baggio then as a boy, with the same wonder that so many young people feel when they look at these legends today. I never imagined that more than 30 years later, I would stand here, in a stadium dedicated to my father, on the same Columbia field where he once played, speaking in front of Roberto Baggio and so many great figures of Italian Football. That is not just football. That is life coming full circle.

For me, this is emotional because I stand here as a son. My father loved Columbia. He loved football. He loved Italy. He loved America. He came to this country with dreams, discipline, courage, and faith. He worked, he studied, he played, he built, and he never forgot where he came from. He proved that you can love America with all your heart and still carry Italy in your soul. His life was about turning gratitude into action.

Today, I know he is proud to see this stadium full, proud to see children walking with legends, proud to see Columbia, FIFA, Fiorentina, and the Italian-American community together. And he would be proud because this day is not only about honoring the past. It is also about speaking with hope and conviction about the future.

And the future of Italian Football needs both honesty and hope.

The question every person who loves Italian Football is asking is simple: how can a nation with Italy's history, talent, and passion fail to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time? The Italian Football Federation's own report makes clear that this is not about one coach, one match, one bad night, or one unlucky generation. It is a systemic problem, and because it is systemic, it demands a serious response from the entire Italian football movement.

The numbers are painful, but they must become a call to action. In Serie A, foreign players, meaning players not eligible for the Italian national team, have played almost 68 percent of total minutes. In Spain, that number is only 40 percent. In France, it is 48 percent. Also, among Serie A players averaging at least 30 minutes per match, only 31 percent were Italian. Serie A ranks 49th out of 50 monitored leagues in the world for minutes played by Under-21 players eligible for the national team. Just 1.9 percent. These are not just statistics. These are warnings.

The same report shows that Italy ranks last among major European football countries in revenue generated from international transfers of domestically trained players over the past decade. It also shows that too few Italian academies are among the best in the world for producing home-grown players. Italian children still have dreams. The passion is still there. The potential is still there. But potential is not enough. Our system is not developing enough great Italian players, and it is not giving enough young players the pathway, the development, the minutes, and the opportunity they need.

We cannot accept that. We cannot be satisfied with memories, old victories, and old glory. Italy has produced genius in football. But if we want another Pirlo, another Baggio, another Nesta, and another great Italian generation, we must build the environment that makes it possible.

That is why I say this clearly today: Italian Football must revolutionize its academies. Not improve a little. Not make small adjustments. Revolutionize.

Every club in Italy must look at its academy not as a cost, but as the heart of the club. Not as a side project, but as the future. Not as a place to fill rosters, but as a place to build people, players, identity, and value.

At ACF Fiorentina, we are doing our part. My father built the Rocco B. Commisso Viola Park, the largest football training center in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. It covers 77 acres and brings together 20 Fiorentina teams, 12 regulation fields, two stadiums, 12 pavilions, residential suites for young players, advanced medical and recovery facilities, tactical analysis rooms, and state-of-the-art technology. It was built for one purpose: to give our players, especially our young players, the best possible environment to grow.

Infrastructure is also part of the challenge. If we want to develop great Italian players, we must give young players modern academies, better facilities, stronger pathways, and the daily environment they need to grow. Clubs must lead this effort, but institutions and government must also support the long-term development of Italian Football.

But buildings alone do not create champions. A beautiful field does not create another Pirlo. Technology does not create another generation by itself. People do that. Coaches do that. Scouts do that. Teachers do that. Standards, culture, discipline, and opportunity do that.

That is why, in 2026, Fiorentina is taking the next step. We are focused on strengthening our academy and our youth development pathway. We are investing more in the people who identify young talent, teach young players, analyze their progress, guide their growth, and help them move from youth football toward the first team. Our goal is not only to have the best facilities. Our goal is to build one of the best football academies in the world, a place that helps young Italian players grow into the future of Fiorentina and the future of Italian Football.

This is not only a sporting responsibility. It also makes business sense. If Italian clubs develop more of their own players, they reduce transfer spending, create real valuable assets, build identity, and connect more deeply with supporters. A great academy is not charity. It is one of the best business models in football, but only if ownership has courage, management has vision, coaches are excellent, and young players are trusted with opportunity.

So today, from this historic field in New York, in front of FIFA, Italian legends, children, families, and one of the great Italian-American communities in the world, I respectfully call on every Italian club to do more. Invest more in academies. Hire and develop better people. Scout better. Coach better. Build better facilities. Give young Italian players a real pathway. Believe in them before it is too late.

We cannot wait for someone else to fix Italian Football. The future will not be built only in meetings, committees, or speeches after another disappointment. The future will be built every morning on training fields, in classrooms, in scouting meetings, in analysis rooms, and in the decision by a coach to give a young player a chance.

This stadium reminds us what is possible. My father once played here as a young man at Columbia. Today, legends of Italian Football are here. Children are here. The Italian-American community is here. FIFA is here. Fiorentina is here. And the message from this field should travel across the ocean: Italian Football must invest in its children again.

America gave my father opportunity. Italy gave him roots. Football became his passion and gave him joy. Today, those pieces of his life meet on one field. If we honor him correctly, we do not only say his name. We continue his work.

To the children here today, dream big. To the Italian-American community, be proud of who you are. To Columbia, thank you for being such an important part of my father’s life and mine. And to Director Peter Pilling, David Poolman, and the entire team at Columbia, thank you for working with us and allowing this special event to take place here at the Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium. To Don Luigi, FIFA, President Infantino, the Grow Together Foundation, the legends, and everyone who made this possible, thank you.

And to Italian Football, let today be a celebration, but also a call. Let us build the next generation. Let us create the next champions. Let us make Italy proud again.

Forza Italia. Forza Viola. God bless all of you, and enjoy this beautiful match.

Thank you!