Italian coach Andriano brings 'happy football' to Xiamen

Adriano Paschetta (the right one in the photo) shaking hands with Laura Egoli, Consul General of Italy in Guangzhou

Wearing a dark red coat that bore a bright logo and carrying a big black backpack, Andriano Paschetta, an Italian expat and founder of the international football organisation FIFOX entered with a wide smile.

FIFOX, named after FIFA (The Fédération Internationale de Football Association), stands for Xiamen International Foreigners Football Organisation.

Mr. Adriano Paschetta first came to Xiamen in 1997 and has been living here ever since then. He used to be a semi-professional football player and, on arriving in Xiamen, remained true on his former occupation, continually recruiting foreigners in the city who like to play football eventually leading to the establishment of FIFOX.

“I know many Chinese people like football very much, and many foreigners want to play football too.” Adriano said, “Why don’t we make the Chinese and foreigners play together?” To this end, he started organising tournaments for both Chinese and foreign teams. “It’s very nice to see so many nationalities playing together.” he said.

In Adriano’s opinion, what really matters is not just winning but also happiness, friendship and respect. “It’s more than a game. Before, some players could not handle failure in a good way.” He continued, “Now everyone shakes hands respectfully when they finish a match.”

Adriano showed us a lot of photos of smiling players, while telling his story. And, we noticed, that there were videos of kids who had fun playing football on the grass too. Subsequently, he told us about his football school.

Adriano once taught English to kids at school. He always referred to the students as “babies” and tried to make them laugh during his classes. Similarly, following the opening of his football school, he teaches football in the same way, an approach that has been well-received by kids and parents alike. “If the kids can be happy and relaxed in class, they are more open-minded and they learn more.” Adriano explained. As a result, the groups of students gets larger and larger and now the number has reached more than 50 kids in total.

It is the first step that is the hardest, as the old saying goes. It was difficult to organise activities without funds and fields in the beginning. After a few successful tournament seasons, his own football team, International Xiamen Dragons now gets support from the Spanish sports brand Joma. Even so, Adriano still has difficulties in finding fields for kids’ training and tournaments, as some fields are too far away and others only available at very specific times. He said, “We are trying to get more sponsors.”

Speaking of his future plans, Adriano is making greater efforts into finding sponsorship for the teams and for the tournament as a whole to cover its basic running costs. He said,“I hope everybody is happy, not only my team.”  Also, he is looking forward to further exchanges between Chinese teams and foreign teams at the right time.

Despite the difficulties he faces, Adriano still believes in a brighter future on the horizon. He has a Chinese name, Kuai Le, which literally means being happy. “They call me Happy because I’m happy every day.” said Adriano. Happy, then, is not just his football philosophy, its his life philosophy more generally.

The FIFOX football tournament will kick off on March 12, with the participation of 16 international teams from Xiamen.