#professionismo

Good news! The amendment that will allow the amateur athletes of Italy to become professionals has been adopted!

Meaning? The women (and more specifically, the Azzurre) are one step closer to acquiring that change in status now, and this will create the necessary conditions needed for them to finally be recognized as the professionals that they are.

Some good news in the midst of all this doom and gloom and darkness: The FIGC has decided to allow the women of Serie A Femminile to become professionals. The proclamation was made by Gabriele Gravina, the president of the FIGC, during a press conference yesterday.

At the moment, the FIGC are working on ‘three hypotheses’, or three separate ways that will allow the women to become professionals. They are also working on implementing this as early as the 2021-2022 season. 

Meaning? The women of Serie A Femminile will finally become professionals.

The first step towards professionalism for women’s football in Italy has been taken.

A proposed amendment to Italy’s Stability Law, signed by senators Susy Matrisciano and Tommaso Nannicini, would mean that support for professionalizing the women’s game would finally come from the federal level. The amendment provides a strong incentive for companies to ‘enter into employment contracts with the women athletes’, by giving them both the structural support and incentives they’ll need to do so. 

Among the proposals included in the amendment are: providing them with benefits, which includes paying ‘100 percent’ of all social security and other contributions for them, with an imposed limit of €8,000 in contributions annually (and this will also be in conjecture with the €30,000 salary limit that is currently in place for the amateur athletes of the country). 

The federal government will also assist in the process, by subsidizing the benefits. The projected figures that they are estimated to be contributing are: €4 million in 2020, and €8 million for 2021 and 2022 (with the intent of this being to get women’s football in Italy to the point where it’s stable enough to be able to pay benefits for the athletes, without needing the assistance of the government. Hence why the figures are only for three years).

A few other, random notes:

- The benefits won’t only be for the women’s footballers. They’ll also extend to basketball, volleyball and rugby players of all genders as well (and that will mean anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 athletes will also receive these benefits, as the estimates vary).

- The proposed subsidies from the federal government don’t exclude the possibility of tax credits, which has been proposed as one of the ways to invest in the women’s and youth sectors without adding a financial burden to the teams and the companies that run them.

- The amendment proposed by the two senators was also drafted in conjunction with the Assocalciatori (footballer’s association in Italy). The amendment also doesn’t address Law 91 (the law on professionalism), mainly because the law already gives the federal government the right to recognize the athletes as professionals, if they see fit to do so.

-  Quite a few members of the Italy team (on the senior and junior levels) sent prerecorded messages in support of the amendment, among them being Sara Gama, Alia Guagni, and Martina Rosucci. The full list of them can be found here. 

- Elisa Bartoli was the only player who was there in person to support the amendment. As Elisa herself said, ‘Ours is a profession, not just a sport.’

Il Trastevere Calcio non va in Sabina, perde campionato e allenatore

Il Trastevere rimedia l’ennesima sconfitta per 4-2. Niente salto nel professionismo e la squadra resta a Roma. Domenica il Trastevere ha riposto nel cassetto il sogno di passare al professionismo. La terza squadra romana incassa 4 reti e ne rende solo 2 nella trasferta col Tiferno Lerchi. Intanto la vittoria per 2-0 dell’Aquila Montevarchi sulla Sangiovese fa chiudere il girone E del campionato…

Cliente di Raiola: starter pack

Alla presentazione nella nuova società, dire che hai sempre tifato/voluto giocare per quella società

Alla prima occasione baciare la maglia

Sapere che ogni due anni devi cambiare squadra, perché il tuo procuratore deve incassare il bonus alla firma

Che poi capisco tutto. Capisco che il calcio è business. Capisco che i calciatori sono professionisti e vanno dove li pagano. Capisco che non esistono…