The initiative, which will include a host of entertaining activities ahead of the match, is part of the final stage of the Shave your style. #rispettailmiostile campaign, launched by Braun and the Milan Foundation last year.

Shave your style. #rispettailmiostile is a project for young people aimed at making them more aware of the importance of respect towards others and the styles that characterise them, where style is not only an aesthetic code but also a way of life, of being and of presenting oneself. The idea is to promote respect and to make these young people appreciate the style that distinguishes others, a necessary part of life for social integration both in the workplace but also in school and on the field of play.

And, on Sunday the 24th of May around 3.500 youths between the ages of 14-17 will be invited to the San Siro for the Round 37 Serie A match Milan-Torino at 20.45 local time, completely filling the green tier. The day will be focused on promoting the message of mutual respect for others mentioned above.

A spectacular form of choreography will be displayed by the youths ahead of the match which will allow them to convey the message promoted by the campaign, while there will also be plenty of pre-match entertainment outside the stadium at the Milan Village to add to the special occasion. Milan’s Soccer Schools will also be playing a series of mini-matches on the San Siro turf where their heroes will then be taking on Torino.

The Shave your style. #rispettailmiostile project is split different activities:

– A school education project that involves 30 schools in different Italian cities throughout the year (Como, Milan, Palermo, Rome and Naples), with courses for students and teachers and also events in the cities that will give people a chance to talk to experts about the arguments surrounding respect. The project will involve about 5000 young people.

– An educational program that directly involves students, invited to share their stories about ‘style and respect’.

– An information campaign aimed at the Milan Scuole Calcio in Italy (nearly 30000 kids).

The first meeting in Milan brought together Paolo Maldini and Javier Zanetti who met 450 school-kids to discuss respect, style and leadership.

Milan’s legendary captain Paolo Maldini and Inter’s Vice-President and likewise legendary captain Javier Zanetti, met with school-kids from secondary schools in Milan to talk about their experiences of respect, but also their experiences of leadership and their style. Fair Play is also a running theme of the project.

Opponents respect each other out on the pitch and Maldini and Zanetti are testimony to this. Every footballer, regardless of the side he or she plays for, puts his personal style to the test, technical and personal. Every different style forms the team and helps contribute to the overall success. In football, just like in life, the outcome can be a success or a defeat.

The objective is to ensure the school-kids understand the message loud and clear: to be a leader you need your own style, but above all you must respect the style of others, without ever falling into the trap of bullying, a theme which is unfortunately far too present nowadays in the news.

In January The Shave your Style – #rispettailmiostile, organized by Milan Foundation and Braun moved to Rome for the second appointment. After the success in Milan, where Paolo Maldini and Javier Zanetti met students, telling them of their experience in terms of respect and leadership, on and off the field, the capital had the same treatment.

Pasquale Gravina, currently President of the Volley Treviso and fencer Paolo Pizzo, World Champion in 2011 and European runner-up were on hand. Through this project Milan Foundation and Braun intend to contribute to social progress by acting on a very topical issue: the difficulties that so many teenagers seem to have in self-esteem and to establish correct relationships. The goal is to promote the values of mutual respect and encourage the kids to recognize and appreciate the style of the other.

The third appointment of Shave your style #rispettailmiostile took place in Como. This time meeting the high school students were Gianluca Zambrotta, Igor Cassina and Daniele Gilardoni, who told them of their experience in terms of respect and leadership, on and off the field, the capital will get the same treatment.

In April, the next meeting as part of the Shave your style #rispettailmiostile took part in Palermo. Braun and the Milan Foundation, along with Palermo’s midfielder Enzo Maresca, Totò Schillaci and Michelangelo Capitanio, head of the city’s youth correctional facility, were all on hand to promote the message of respect amongst young people.

As part of the project, Braun and the Milan Foundation have also turned to the Agostino Gemelli Psychology Educational Institute from the Cattolica del Sacro Cuore University in Milan to research the topic of respect in Italy via surveys, laboratory tests and interviews across schools.

The project-research can be broken down as follows:

• A quantitative research conducted by the Agostino Gemelli Psychology Educational Institute among school-kids aged 14 to 18 years. This involves educational workshops with groups sharing ideas and creating an open dialogue on the issues of diversity and respect of styles.

• Meetings with experts and AC Milan ambassadors on a range of themes that look further into the issue of respect. Each theme is tied to a city.

-leadership (positive styles versus bullying);
-as a matter of style in asserting one’s own positive form of leadership and comparing it with others;
-all of the styles of the world… inclusion and integration;
-choose your own style or depending (dependence and self-affirmation);
-tutors, volunteers, coaches… the altruistic approach.

• Educational materials for schools, which are available to view and download from the Milan Foundation website:

-methods for peer education and peer tutoring for the active involvement of young people;
-reasons behind the main causes of personal distress and relationships;
-strategies and techniques for the management of group dynamics;
-behavioral risks and signs of discomfort;
-behavioral risks and discomfort: expert advice and who to turn to.

• An educational competition in which schools are invited to participate. This calls on students to record their experiences with photos, videos and digital storytelling in their “stories of style and respect.”

The final stop-off is Naples on the 25th of May. The results will then be officially presented in June in Milan.