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BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - NOVEMBER 12: General view during the commemoration of the 39 football fans who died in the Heysel stadium at the 1985 European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus, ahead of a friendly match at at King Baudouin Stadium on November 12, 2015 in Brussels, Belgium. (Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
A tragedy that marked not only Italian football but the world of football in an indelible way: on May 29, it will be exactly forty years since what was meant to be a celebration, the European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool, turned into a disaster, with the death of thirty-nine people at the then-Heysel Stadium in Brussels (from which the tragedy takes its name, now replaced by a stadium dedicated to King Baudouin) who had gathered to watch the match.
The Museo del Calcio in Coverciano has planned several initiatives to commemorate the 40th anniversary of that tragic May 29, 1985.
Throughout May, a video produced by the Association of Heysel Victims’ Families (texts by Francesco Caremani, photos by Salvatore Giglio, and editing by Domenico Laudadio) will be screened in the museum’s cinema hall.
On the morning of May 30, from 11:00 to 13:00, the ‘Mario Vallitutti’ conference room at the Museo del Calcio will host a meeting entitled “Heysel 40 Years On: The Value of Memory.” Attendees will include Matteo Marani, President of the Museo del Calcio Foundation; Andrea Lorentini, President of the Association of Heysel Victims’ Families; and Paolo Garimberti, President of the Juventus Museum.
The Vallitutti room will also feature a photographic exhibition with images taken by Salvatore Giglio, Juventus’ historic photographer and an eyewitness to the tragedy: six panels will display Giglio’s photographs, while other images will be projected continuously in rotation.
On the same morning, students from the third and fourth years of the sports high school ‘Galileo Galilei’ in Dolo, accompanied by teachers Stefano Borgo and Laura Pojer, will present a project on how people can be educated to behave responsibly in stadiums and how this can prevent or minimise tragedies like Heysel.
The cover image shows the blue jersey with the number 39, laid down by the Italian national team delegation at the Brussels stadium in November 2015, during a friendly match against Belgium. The jersey is now part of the Museo del Calcio collection.