Everything is ready for the draw for the Unity EURO Cup 2026, which will take place from 14:30 CEST tomorrow, Wednesday 23 September, at the Technical Centre in Coverciano. This will be the fifth edition of the competition promoted by UEFA in collaboration with UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which uses football as a tool for social inclusion and integration.

The draw ceremony will be streamed live on Vivo Azzurro TV, the FIGC OTT platform, from 14:45 CEST. For the first time in its history, the Unity EURO Cup will be hosted by Italy. The tournament will take place on Thursday 15 October, when Coverciano will welcome the 22 participating teams, comprising around 400 players and staff members in total.

This is the highest number of teams ever recorded in the history of the tournament: 21 come from European National Associations (in alphabetical order: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Northern Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland), while the 22nd is a European Union Representative Team.

The competition brings together teams made up of refugees and representatives of local communities from the participating countries, creating the opportunity for people from different cultures and backgrounds to meet through football. Since 2025, the Unity EURO Cup has officially become UEFA’s 24th official competition, starting with the fourth edition.

FIGC, which has taken part in every edition of the tournament since day one, held in Nyon in 2022, will be represented in Coverciano by Refugee Team Italy. The Italian representative team was formed through the Road to Unity EURO Cup, held last June at the Technical Centre. The event involved refugee footballers from 13 different nationalities, coming from various parts of Italy.

The build-up to the Italian edition of the Unity EURO Cup forms part of FIGC’s wider commitment to social inclusion and support for refugees, continuing the RETE! Refugee Teams project, which has been active since 2015 and is promoted by FIGC’s Youth and School Sector in collaboration with the national reception system. Across the ten editions held since 2015, the project has involved 11,613 young people and 1,027 reception centres. In 2026, the project involved 91 reception centres, 784 players and 29 sports clubs.

Tomorrow, in Coverciano, the draw will provide the competition’s official structure and determine the fixtures that will headline the day of matches on 15 October. It will mark a new chapter for a tournament that, through football, brings together not only teams and players, but also participation, respect, solidarity and inclusion.