Il calcio come strumento di integrazione: il caso dell’Afro-Napoli United

This paper analyses the reality of Afro-Naples United, a Neapolitan football team with migrant and Italian players, established to encourage integration and promote a multi-ethnic culture. The research, which has both sociological and legal foundations, aims to understand how – in the context of the new rules concerning the recruitment of migrant athletes , together with all its complications – this football experience has influenced the lives of the players, their social capital, and the relational networks useful in accessing economic and social resources and in increasing their local prestige as well as general trust. To put it simply, footballs ability to favour integration which restrains socio-economic exclusion of dis- advantaged groups.