Balotelli in action against England in Euro 2012 (photo credit: CC-BY-SA-Илья Хохлов/Wikipmedia Commons)
Mario Balotelli, the black Italian soccer star
whose goals have fired Italy into the final of the Euro 2012 soccer
championships on Sunday, was raised by a Jewish Italian foster mother
from the age of three.
The eccentric, talented, headline-making
forward, who was born Mario Barwuah to immigrants from Ghana in
Palermo, rushed over to embrace his foster mother, Silvia Balotelli,
after Thursday’s win over Germany, which was secured by two Balotelli
goals, had given Italy a place in Sunday’s final against Spain.
Along with other members of the Italian team,
Balotelli had visited Auschwitz earlier this month before the start of
the tournament, which is being co-hosted by Poland, and he was
reportedly the player most affected by the visit. According to a Radio Netherlands report earlier this week,
Balotelli sat down alone on the train tracks at the death camp, staring
silently ahead. “A while later, he tells his team-mates about a box of
letters that his Jewish adoptive mother kept underneath her bed. He had
never told anyone.”
Italy’s goal-scorer Mario Balotelli hugs his Jewish foster mother Silvia after Thursday’s victory over
Germany at Euro 2012. (via Twitter)
Balotelli, 21, was one of four children born
to Christian parents Thomas and Rose Barwuah, immigrants from Ghana. He
suffered with life-threatening health issues, requiring frequent
intestinal surgery, and his poor health put a heavy strain on his
already impoverished family. After they sought state assistance
following a move to Milan, the authorities suggested he be placed into
foster care, according to the Radio Netherlands report, which is partly
based on his biological parents’ account:
“That’s how Mario Barwuah came into contact
with the Balotellis” — Francesco and Silvia – ”a white family who lived
in a villa in a small nearby village. At first, he stayed at the
Balotellis during the week and returned to his family on weekends. But
after a while things changed. Mario started to treat his (biological)
parents with indifference. Ultimately, he took his weekday family’s
surname.”
When he became successful as a soccer player,
his biological parents sought to re-enter his life, but Balotelli
rejected them as “glory hunters.”
Despite his unpromising health and complex
family background, Balotelli proved to be a soccer prodigy, becoming the
youngest player ever to play in Italy’s third division, at age 15, and
ultimately impressing as a player for top Italian side Inter Milan. He
then moved to England’s Manchester City, with whom he won the Premier
League title this past season.
At the same time, he has been a figure of
controversy, ridicule and affection over the years — sporting eccentric
hair-styles, once having his UK home set on fire by errant fireworks,
and being sent off intermittently for undisciplined behavior on the
field.
At the Euro championships, however, he has
been one of the players of the tournament. Regarding the racial abuse,
his coach Cesare Prandelli said this week: “This is a social problem. If
Mario gets any problem, I’ll hug him on the pitch.”
Prandelli has had his difficulties with
Balotelli too, dropping him from one of the tournament’s earlier games,
but his performance against Germany seems certain to ensure he’ll play
in the final.
The player described the victory against
Germany as “the most wonderful night of my life so far,” adding, “but I
hope Sunday is even better.”
Dedicating his goals to “my mother,” who had
come from Italy to watch him play, Balotelli said: ”At the end of the
game when I went to my mother, that was the best moment. I told her
these goals were for her. I waited a long time for this moment,
especially as my mother is not young anymore and can’t travel far, so I
had to make her happy when she came all the way here. My father will be
in Kiev for the final too.”
The improbable Jewish 'heritage' of Italy's goal-scoring eccentric | The Times of Israel
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