Eleganza Host Bespoke Football Tournament In Milan

The Eleganza Football Tournament (EFT) was originally scheduled to take place back at the beginning of the year, but like all things 2020, it had to wait its turn, with organisers Calcetto Eleganza instead having to find other ways to inventively keep themselves entertained. So they bided their time as far as EFT was concerned, and eventually chose the Milan Fashion Week to debut the competition, whose first edition was dubbed FW20. Upon its commencement, it was the first European amateur football tournament to reunite some of the city’s coolest realties — such as La Scala, Triennale, Retrosuperfuture, Garage Italia — allowing them to play, collaborate and exchange ideas both on and off the pitch.

With the tournament having been put on hold for such a long and difficult time, when it finally go the green light it was like a welcome release, symbolising a sort of re-start for the entire city, through football. EFT leverages football to celebrate some of Milan’s most remarkable scenes: from the long-standing tradition (Scala Theatre and Milan’s Triennale) to the young creative innovators (Burro Studio, Garage Italia and Retrosuperfuture), all the way to its most inclusive environments (Ostello Bello). It’s set to take place every year and is fashionably divided in two Fall-Winter (October to November) and Spring-Summer (April to June) seasons. The teams are selected and invited by Calcetto Eleganza.

To simply label the project as a “football tournament” is to do it a disservice however: on top of the play, DJ sets, viewing parties, yoga, dance and running sessions, all hosted in the multifunctional space of Formidabile Lambrate, completed the package of this inclusive, sport-entertainment-lifestyle year-round activation. One to mark in the calendar going forward.

Photography by Carmen Colombo.