(ANSAmed) - ROME, JUL 25 - Italian soccer great Roberto Baggio, the winner of the 1993 Ballon d'Or, visited the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka to take part in a panel discussion dedicated to the diplomacy of sport and organized in cooperation with the Italian trade agency ICE.
    Baggio was welcomed by a crowd of fans from all over Japan when he arrived at the Italy Pavilion.
    The former soccer player is famous across the country.
    Fans welcomed Baggio chanting his nickname "divine ponytail' (divin codino in Italian), due the iconic ponytail which the soccer legend sported throughout most of his career.
    The public waited for him showing jerseys of soccer teams for which the Caldogno-born footballer played such as Juventus and Inter.
    Baggio then took part in the Kagami Biraki, a Japanese ceremony which literally means 'opening the mirror' and traditionally includes breaking open a sake barrel.
    The ceremony was also attended by the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Ambassador Mario Vattani, the President of the ICE Agency Matteo Zoppas, and Marco Rago, the legal advisor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and the Vice President of the OneWater Italian National Committee.
    After breaking open the barrel, participants toasted with a glass of sake, according to tradition.

(ANSAmed).
   

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