Emmanuel Cascione spent the majority of his playing career in Italy, barring a spell with West Ham United.
The Hammers initially took the 38-year-old for their academy in the summer of 2000 and released him 18 months later, in January 2002.
Torneo di Viareggio, officially named as the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale, is a youth football tournament held in Viareggio.
The former midfielder had an opportunity to play in this tournament during his youth career. However, this was blocked by West Ham as they were not open to letting the Italian go out on loan during his time with the English capital club.
Cascione, who is now the manager of Sassuolo U18, guided them to the Viareggio Cup success on March 30th, where they defeated AT Academy in the final. He detailed his joy at winning the youth tournament with his current side.
“A great joy because I believe that for a Viareggio winning the tournament is an unforgettable thing. As a player, years ago, I should have participated in the tournament with the Viareggio shirt but then it had vanished,” he said, as quoted by Il Tirreno.
When pressed about what stopped him taking part in the tournament, Cascione said: “At that time I was playing at West Ham, where I had asked for permission to play the tournament on loan with Viareggio. But the English club didn’t let me. I was very upset because I had seen a dream vanish.”
Cascione was at West Ham for 18 months and during his time in London, he failed to make an appearance for their senior team.
