The Italian Cultural Institute of Miami is hosting a special evening to mark the closing of the exhibition World Cup Icons. Stickers, Portraits & Stories, dedicated to soccer as a cultural, historical, and visual phenomenon and to the role that collectible stickers have played in the collective imagination of generations.
The special guest for the occasion will be the renowned former soccer player Amauri, who will retrace his professional career in the world of soccer, from his early days in Brazil to his long career in Italian football and his experience with the Italian national team, before moving on to his time in Florida with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers during the 2016 season.
The event, scheduled for Thursday, September 3 at 6:30 PM at the Institute, will give the public a final opportunity to revisit the main highlights of the exhibition, created by the cultural association Mo’ Better Football in connection with the 2026 FIFA World Cup, for which Italian publisher Panini released the official sticker album, as well as the 65th anniversary of the historic Calciatori Panini collection.
Among the exhibition’s highlights is a room dedicated to the eleven members of the Italian national team who won the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain, portrayed in original artworks created for the exhibition by Sergio Ponchione, as well as a documentary video produced specifically for the exhibition on the history of the historic Florida-based soccer team, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
The event featuring Amauri is part of the Italian Sports Day in the World, launched by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) in collaboration with the Minister for Sport and Youth, CONI (Italian National Olympic Committee), and CIP (Italian Paralympic Committee). The initiative aims to promote and celebrate Italian sport abroad by highlighting its athletes, excellence, and related industries, while recognizing sport’s role as a tool for bringing together and integrating Italian communities around the world.