A Ukrainian flag as the background for the logo of the roaring bear of Pallacanestro Biella, the yellow and blue colors mixed with the black and white of the Biellese: solidarity and the appeal for peace arrive loud and clear on the social pages of the two city clubs, among the few in Italy and in the world to have chosen to express themselves openly on the crisis between Moscow and Kiev. Edilnol was the first to change its profile picture on Facebook and Instagram, also adding a story (the ephemeral content that remains visible for 24 hours) where a single word is added to the colors of Ukraine: “Peace” , or peace in English. The Biellese followed suit shortly after. And if at the Rossoblu home the general manager Damiano Olla explains in a few words the reason for the gesture (“It seems to me the minimum”, he says), the Juventus president Luca Rossetto does not use euphemisms: “It’s to remember – he wrote in a comment to the ‘new image on Facebook – that while we are playing football a European people are attacked and bombed by a dictator ».
In the world of sport, the consequences of the conflict have already been seen, from the relocation of the Champions League final to the cancellation of the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix to the postponement of the Euroleague basketball matches that saw Russian teams on the pitch. Among the athletes stands out the involvement of Luigi Samele, the double Olympic silver medalist in the guest saber in Biella a few weeks ago for “Champions under the stars”: her partner Olga Kharlan is Ukrainian and told on Instagram about her sleepless night spent on the phone with the parents in Kiev, while the air raid alarm had forced them to take refuge in the cellar.