FIGC president Gabriele Gravina reflected on the current state of Italian football, talking everything from the fight against racism and debt concerns to sports justice and national team woes.
On Tuesday this week, the Italian FA announced that the shirt number 88 would be banned in order to fight against antisemitism – the number is known as a white supremacist code for ‘heil Hitler’.
The FIGC were under fire for a number of reasons across the 2022-23 season, for things like their reaction to racist incidents in Serie A matches and their handling of Juventus’ off-pitch legal battles.
Speaking to Avvenire via Gianluca Di Marzio, Gravina first discussed the issue of debt in Italian football.
“The starting point to heal sick football is to become aware of the high indebtedness and intervene surgically, and not with a simple pill.
“Since it is an entropic crisis, that of the football system cannot be cured with a regulatory therapy alone. Rather, a cultural change is needed.”
The FIGC president then spoke about the ongoing battle against racism in football.
“In recent days at the Viminale we signed a declaration of intent to counter and expel all forms of physical or verbal violence from football.
“In order to get racism and antisemitism out of our stadiums, we have asked for the maximum collaboration of the clubs, which with the use of technology today can identify and denounce in real time individuals or groups that violate respect for human dignity.”
He commented on the work of the FIGC court and sports justice last season.
“In recent times some of the choices made by our FA have been a source of unpopularity, of unhinged reactions by groups of troublemakers who also use unusual means to intimidate.
“We do not lend ourselves to any kind of instrumentalisation, even less political, and we focus exclusively on knowledge.
“Some blame me for not having reformed sports justice, and here we are on the level of lack of knowledge.”
Finally, Gravina discussed the concerns surrounding the Italian national team.
“I am sorry to disappoint the fans when we do not qualify for the World Cup or the Olympics, but I win in other sectors and in the dimensions in which the FIGC is investing in economic and above all human resources.
“As for the results, I would like to point out to the defeatists that Roberto Mancini’s national team, in addition to winning the European Championship in 2021, had also set the world record of 37 unbeaten matches, a record snatched from the old winning teams of Spain and Brazil.”