The rebellious energy behind FC United is reflected in the other FENIX clubs, too. While many Manchester United fans begrudgingly continued to give the Glazers money, FC United fought for an alternative path. The inaugural champion was FC United of Manchester, a club created in 2005 in direct response to the takeover of Manchester United by the Florida-based Glazer family, who have become infamous for failing to build winning teams while adding to their own personal fortunes by paying themselves shareholder dividends. The name of the tournament is inspired by the term “phoenix club,” which denotes a club created by a community, often to revive a beloved team that has been bankrupted or ruined by reckless owners. Now in its second year, the FENIX Trophy doubles as a cheeky protest against the worship of money in modern football and the systemic greed and corruption that brought the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. On a video call from Milan, as he is ambling around lovely streets looking down at his phone, Leo Aleotti tells me, “Let me find an environment where I can speak out loud, as any Italian would do.” Aleotti, 27, is the creator of the FENIX Trophy, a scrappy, subversive little football tournament for grassroots and alternative European soccer clubs.
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