Former Italy player Ivan Luca Vavassori, who has become a foreign fighter for Ukraine, is in hospital after fighting in Mariupol, his father confirmed. This is his story, from football to war.
There were fears that Vavassori, 30, was among the victims of the battle at the Mariupol steel plant as the former goalkeeper had not been in touch with his family for several days. Born in Russia in 1992, was adopted by the Vavassori family in Italy. His adoptive mother, Alessandra Sgarella, was kidnapped by ‘Ndrangheta in 1997 and released after nine months. She died in 2011 because of a serious illness.
Ivan Luca is a former Serie C goalkeeper. He played with Pro Patria, Bra and Legnano, collecting 15 appearances in Italy’s third division and two in the Supercoppa Serie C. In 2013, he was part of the team that faced Milan in a friendly match that saw Kevin Prince Boateng leave the pitch over racist abuse from Pro Patria fans.
Two years later, he started against the Rossoneri in the first friendly match for Sinisa Mihajlovic in charge of the Rossoneri. It was also the first game at a senior level for Gigio Donnarumma, who replaced Christian Abbiati in the first half. Vavassori left Italy a few years ago to continue his playing career in Bolivia.
He joined the Ukrainian Army in February and has posted several pictures of the conflict on his Facebook account. His adoptive father, Pietro, was the former owner of the logistic company Italsempione and the ex-chairman of Pro Patria. A few days ago, Ivan Luca said on social media that he was about to join a ‘suicide mission.’
“We have very few units against an entire army, but we prefer to try. What matters is to die well; only then begins life,” he wrote.
There were fears that he was one of the five victims of one of the attacks carried out by the Russian Army in Mariupol last week. However, on Tuesday morning. his family confirmed that Ivan Luca is alive. “Ivan is still alive and is in hospital,” said his father. Il Messaggero and other Italian media report that the Prosecutor of Milan has opened an investigation over his mission in Ukraine.
Ivan #Vavassori, il papà: «Sta in ospedale, è vivo». Ma la #Procura apre un'inchiesta sulla sua missione #ucraina https://t.co/1XINtq4yMe
— Il Messaggero (@ilmessaggeroit) April 26, 2022
Pro Patria is unfortunately a well established nest for extreme right wing ideology.
Is this article glorifying war when the world is supposed to be discouraging war.
Also do not mix politics with sports please Mr Lorrenzo Bettoni.
from Football player to mercenary
Best of luck to the man. I hope his fight against Putin and his propaganda invasion continues.
Can you remember people going to fight for Iraq and Afghanistan to defend Muslim land and they where called terrorists. But it’s ok for anybody to go fight for Ukraine. This is crazy
Leon Delgaudio
The Ukrainians allow to fight others on their side. Ukraine is a democratic country that got invaded by an autocratic country. Iraq and Iran was a different story about fighting for oil/money. These are two completely different cases. I think US did invade Iraq or Iran, their purpose was money and not land and bringing slavery to another country.