Zenga, current manager of Italian Club Cagliari, has joined the DSC’s initiative to train at home and sent out a message to UAE residents to remain safe and fit amid coronavirus pandemic. Courtesy: Cagliari FC website

Walter Zenga, the former goalkeeper of the Italian national football team and Inter Milan club, has become the latest biggest name to join Dubai Sports Council’s ‘Be fit, Be safe’ campaign.

Walter Zenga, current manager of Italian Club Cagliari, has joined the DSC’s initiative to train at home and sent out a message to UAE residents to remain safe and fit amid coronavirus pandemic. He shared the message through a video.

During his playing career, Zenga was part of the Italian squad that finished fourth at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, US and was starting goalkeeper for the Azzurri team that finished third in the 1990 FIFA World Cup tournament held in Italy, keeping a World Cup record unbeaten streak.

A three-time winner of the IFFHS World’s Best Goalkeeper Award, Zenga is regarded by pundits as one of the best goalkeepers of all time, and in 2013 was voted the eighth best goalkeeper of the past quarter-century by IFFHS.

The former Italian goalkeeper had also coached four UAE clubs including Al Ain, Al Jazira, Al Nasr and Al Shaab.

I a message Zenga said: “This is a really difficult moment and we need to take care of us and others as well. So stay at home and try to be fit while you are at home. Let us all say, ‘Be Fit and Be Safe’. Take care.”

Dubai Sports Council launched the ‘Be Fit, Be Safe’ campaign last month to encourage members of the community to continue exercising at home following the precautionary closure of gyms to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Top soccer stars from across the world have endorsed the initiative of DSC.

Through the campaign, which is being run under the hashtag #DSCchallenge, Dubai Sports Council is urging members of the community to be safe and avoid going out unless absolutely necessary, but, at the same time, continue exercising at home and share their home workout videos online, tagging @DubaiSC.

The ‘Be Fit, Be Safe’ initiative has received widespread support from the community, with experts from the fitness industry and some of UAE’s top sports stars, taking part alongside many others, including mums and dads, and schoolkids, of different nationalities.

Earlier, Carles Puyol, former star of the Spanish national football team, Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs, former Spain international Michel Salgado and rising Portuguese star Joao Felix joined some of football’s biggest names in supporting DSC’s ‘Be Fit, Be Safe’ campaign, urging Emiratis and UAE’s expatriates to heed the country’s authorities and stay home, and stay healthy. Last week, former football greats Luis Figo of Portugal, Brazil’s Roberto Carlos and Frenchman Nicolas Anelka were among the first to back the campaign, releasing a video message for their fans in Dubai and UAE.

Italian Pierluigi Collina, one of the best known football referees, and former France internationals Eric Abidal and Mikael Silvestre have also backed the campaign since and now Giggs and Felix have lent their voice to the campaign, along with former Spain and Real Madrid defender Salgado, through a video message to their friends and fans in the UAE.

Felix, who plays for Atletico Madrid in Spain, last year received the Best Revelation Player award from Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, at December’s Dubai Globe Soccer Awards.

Salgado, who is a long-time Dubai resident and has been a strong supporter of DSC’s efforts to promote grassroots football in the UAE, said the best way to fight COVID 19 was to stay safe and stay healthy.

The “Be Fit, Be Safe” campaign has been launched by Dubai Sports Council to encourage members of the community to continue exercising at home following the precautionary closure of gyms to combat the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Through the campaign, which is being run under the hashtag #DSCchallenge, Dubai Sports Council is urging members of the community to be safe and avoid going out unless absolutely necessary, but, at the same time, continue exercising at home and share their home workout videos online, tagging @DubaiSC. The Council also requested those sharing their videos to nominate two friends to take up the challenge.

The “Be Fit, Be Safe” initiative has received widespread support from the community, with experts from the fitness industry and some of UAE’s top sports stars, taking part alongside many others, including mums and dads, and schoolkids, of different nationalities.

As part of the campaign, DSC has also linked up with some of the leading brands from UAE’s fitness industry to offer free daily virtual fitness classes, led by certified fitness trainers.