Former Roma and Italy midfielder Damiano Tommasi has been elected the Mayor of Verona.
The 48-year-old beat incumbent Federico Sboarina in a run-off with 54.4% of the vote compared to 46.6%.
Not a member of any particular party, Tommasi was supported in the final run-off by the centre-left PD and a coalition of other parties.
It is not exactly the first administrative role held by Tommasi, as he also spent nine years as the President of the Italian Players’ Association from 2011 to 2018.
He is from Verona and started his career in the Hellas Verona youth academy, before moving to Roma in 1996 and remaining there for 10 years, during which he won the Serie A title.
In the final years of his playing career, Tommasi also represented the likes of Levante, QPR, Tianjin Teda and San Marino club La Fiorita before finally retiring in 2019.
Throughout his career, Tommasi was known for having a strong social conscience, talking Roma into signing him after a serious injury on the minimum wage, then urging technical sponsor Nike to use only footballs that were made using fair labour practices.
Ballottaggi, #Tommasi si prende Verona #elezioni2022 https://t.co/fxjpqVJ14l
— La Gazzetta dello Sport (@Gazzetta_it) June 26, 2022
Wow that’s impressive
I knew he was quite aloof from his playing days. As the article states, he always had other things going on outside football. I do recall an open letter of sorts he published.
The rightful goaldcorer of the Golden Goal, South Korea v Italy. World Cup 2022.
If VAR was in play it would have shown he was in line with the 2nd last Defender.
I hope he makes building a stadium in Verona easier now for them.
Good for him! Also ya that goal he scored against South Korea should have counted. Wish him well!