An interesting tale unites Panama’s football team, who made their first appearance at 2018 Russia World Cup, and an Italian tannery. As the story goes, in 1969 Giancarlo Gronchi, a tanner based in Val d’Arno, left his own country and headed for Central America to teach “the art he was best into”. Yet, Gronchi also brought in America another great passion he had, namely football. While talking to the Corriere Fiorentino, his son, Giampaolo, tells about the story. In 1984, his father created a team of footballers playing in the industrial league. Four years later, he founded an association to promote football; shortly after, after getting more and more relevant, it turned into a very important football league, which we can compare to Italy’s premier football championship. Meanwhile, his team, whose name was Tauro, same as his tannery, started winning a number of trophies. They also signed very talented players, Ismael Diaz, Luis Tejada and Gabriel Gavilan Gomez among others, who currently play for Panama’s national football team, which is going to play Belgium, Tunisia and England, all included in group G, at 2018 Russia World Cup. “Daddy would be very proud of this national team, as they are participating in the World Cup”, emphasizes Giampaolo at the Corriere Fiorentino.
At Russia World Cup Panama’s national football team say thanks to Italian tannery
