(19 February 2016) As soccer fever has never been this high, Osaka hosts on 23-29 February the football world cup for psychiatric patients. When Santo Rullo, former president of the Italian Association of Social Psychiatry, received an invitation from his Japanese colleagues, he could not resist: the tournament represents the culmination of twenty years of hard struggles. Soon after, he began to worry: because the Italians, pioneers in launching the idea of football as a therapy tool, didn’t even have a national team. Together with some colleagues, Dr. Rullo then decided to launch a campaign on social networks, on the main sports newspapers and football broadcasts: the national team was created on a democratic basis. All Italian psychiatric patients had the opportunity to participate in the auditions, which were held in Rome in late January and early February, and win a trip to Osaka, where they will wear the blue jersey and represent their country. To select the team, there was former champion Felice Pulici, and to prepare them there was world champion and boxer Vincenzo Cantatore.
