Sport e seconde generazioni fra rischi di ghettizzazione e intenzionalità educative. Una ricerca sulla valenza educativa del calcio in aree a forte processo migratorio

The paper focuses on the role that extra-school sporting activities can play in the integration of second generation youth, and in the strengthening of their interactions with Italian peers. The paper will first describe briefly some weaknesses of the school- and extra-school experience of the children of migrants. It will then outline the role of not formal educational contexts, and the specific features of extra-school sporting activities, with special reference to their intercultural aspects. The paper will then present some first results of a research about the educational role that football can play in areas with high percentage of migrant inhabitants, focusing both on the risks of ghettoization, and on the potentialities of football in fostering integration processes. In this perspective, the paper will stress the importance of an explicit and conscious educational intention on behalf of educators, trainers and officers.