Palermo FC has joined the Twinning Project, an internationally recognised rehabilitation programme that pairs professional football clubs with prisons in their local communities. The initiative, supported by Enel Cuore, the philanthropic organisation of the Enel Group, uses football as a powerful tool for education, wellbeing and personal development, supporting rehabilitation and social reintegration while improving participants’ future prospects.
In Palermo, the project will take place at the “Malaspina” Juvenile Detention Centre, with weekly sessions scheduled every Friday from 2 October to 18 December. The activities will involve young people in detention and will be led by qualified coaches from the Rosanero Youth Sector, who will share their expertise throughout the programme.
The programme combines basic training to become a football coach with a broader pathway aimed at developing transferable skills such as communication, reflection, teamwork, leadership and conflict management, while also improving participants’ physical and mental wellbeing. Those who complete the programme will receive a final diploma recognising their achievement, with the aim of supporting future opportunities for employment and reintegration into the community.
Palermo FC’s participation in the Twinning Project forms part of the Club’s ongoing commitment to social responsibility, putting its expertise and professional skills at the service of the local community and promoting football as a catalyst for change.
Founded in the United Kingdom in 2018, the Twinning Project has already paired 73 English professional football clubs with their respective prisons. Several academic institutions are currently conducting independent studies into the impact of the project, including the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the United States, with very encouraging results. Its international expansion, which began in 2023 with the support of FIFA, has since taken the programme to numerous countries around the world, including the United States, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Singapore, Uruguay and Japan. In 2026, with the support of Enel Cuore, Sasha Fugazzola, President of Twinning Project ETS, also launched the programme in five Italian cities, involving local football clubs and adult and juvenile detention facilities, with a particular focus on younger people in detention.