Women’s football in Italy
Never again again: Italy relies on EM boom
In Italy, footballers have been fighting for acceptance and attention for decades. At the European Championships the Azzurre amazement. The semi -finals against England should become a milestone.
Italy’s footballers are very aware of the importance of this game. In the European Championship semi -final against defending champion England, the Azzurre on Tuesday is more than getting into the final – which would be a coup alone. The match, however, is also supposed to lift women’s football to a new level in the male football -crazy country. “We put our strength in and those of all women and girls who want to play football,” said striker Sofia Cantore of the “Gazzetta dello Sport”.
Just the largest Italian sports newspaper is a mirror of the difficult struggle for attention to women’s football south of the burner. Two days before the game on Tuesday (9:00 p.m./ZDF and DAZN) in Geneva against England, an article was only devoted to the European Championship semi -final – although the advertisement for a deodorant on the same side was about as big as the whole interview with goalkeeper Laura Giuliani. After wild transfer news from Serie A (the men) you had to leaf through to page 24 to find it.
Captain Girelli: Success for young girls who dream
After the dramatic quarter -final victory over Norway, the women’s selection even made it onto the line of the country’s three large sports leaves – albeit not as an up -and -go. But the players from selection coach Andrea Soncin do not want to complain about this. Above all, one knows that it is more than the quick success in this tournament.
“Of course we are happy about the semi -finals,” said captain Cristiana Girelli to the “Corriere della Sera”. The 35 -year -old striker had only made it possible to move into the preliminary round with two goals against Norway – one of them in the 90th minute. After 28 years of abstinence, the Italians are among the top four Europe again – in 1997 we even went to the final against Germany (0: 2).
“But we did not achieve this for personal fame. But for all those who went with us this path and for those girls who dream today to experience it once,” said the experienced Girelli.
Footballers only since 2022 with professional status
And the way here was rocky. The first championship was played in 1968. But it was not until 1986 that the Figc association took up women’s football – under the amateurs division. It lasted until 2022 before the footballer was recognized as a profession and Serie-A players were able to enjoy adequate insurance and pension claims for the first time.
“I know these stories from the past, from bus trips from Brescia to Bari, the lunch at the motorway service area and in the afternoon the game,” said attacker Cantore, one of the youngest in the squad at the age of 25. Brescia and Bari are about eight and a half hours of car.
The youngest Milan Derby in almost empty San-Siro Stadium
The situation has improved since the large men’s clubs have also been involved in women’s football. In the past season, Juventus Turin and striker Girelli won the championship title ahead of Inter Milan, AS Rome, ACF Florence and AC Milan. In 2019, 39,000 spectators came to the Turiner stadium for the top game of Juve against the Fiorentina – that was a record in Italy’s women’s football.
In contrast, pictures of the Milan derby in the past season seemed embarrassing: in the legendary Giuseppe-Mazza Stadium, which took around 80,000 spectators, just 2,422 people got lost in the first women’s city duel-due to construction measures in the actual women’s stadium, the arena in San Siro had to be avoided at short notice.
Association with encouraging numbers – TV quota “excellent”
The Azzurre hope to ensure that such scenes do not repeat themselves at this European Championship. The association is confident. According to a study from May, 40 percent of people are interested in the Mediterranean country for women’s football, and around seven million people describe themselves as fans. That is about seven times as many as in the 2019/20 season.
The victory over Norway with the dramatic final phase was watching around 2.44 million people on television, which corresponds to a quota of around 17.5 percent. The broadcaster Rai1 spoke of “excellent” numbers. And who knows what will be going on in Italy on Tuesday evening …
dpa
Source: Stern
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