ROME. From all over the world, requests from sports institutions and football fans rain down on Italy to change the name of the Olympic Stadium to link it to a figure universally known as Paolo Rossi. The last appeal was that of the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino. But the supporters of Rome and Lazio are opposed because they consider the former striker of the national team and Juventus “alien” to their history. Politics has also taken the first step. The path that leads to the naming of the Olympic stadium in Rome after Paolo Rossi, the blue legend of Spain ’82, has seen a turning point. The Chamber of Deputies, with 387 votes in favor, two abstentions and 5 against, approved an agenda with which it commits the government to evaluate the possibility of assigning the plant to the blue top scorer, creator of the world triumph. The first signatory is the honorable Pierantonio Zanettin, deputy of Forza Italia. The choice, which indicates a clear will shared by parliament and government, was immediately commented by the footballer’s wife, Federica Cappelletti: “There are no words to thank but I would like the naming path to unite and not divide, it would be very beautiful, also in the respect and memory of Paolo who in 1982 made Italy and the Italians dream and who after 40 years is remembered with a national hero, symbol of the blue jersey and of Italy world champion ».
Protests
The idea of naming the Olympic stadium after “Pablito”, who passed away on December 9, 2020, does not find favor with the Roman fans. local identity to the point of naming the facility after him. At the beginning of November it was the president of the FIGC, Gabriele Gravina, who expressed the federation’s desire to dedicate the Olympic stadium in Rome to Paolo Rossi, underlining that he had started a process of gratitude for ” Pablito “, historical memory of all Italian football. This year the FIGC wanted to pay homage to him by naming the hall of the federal council after him. Up to now, the stadium in Bucine, the town where he lived before dying, has been dedicated to Rossi, while in Prato , in the neighborhood of his hometown, in Santa Lucia, in piazzale della Cipressetta, a bronze bust was unveiled, made by the Florentine artist Elisa Moruc there.
Dream
Even Vicenza, where Rossi with the Lanerossi shirt has built his dream career, has moved on. And he is in full excitement to pay homage to him and celebrate him with a statue to be placed in front of the ‘Menti’ stadium, in Largo Paolo Rossi, obviously at number 9. «The go-ahead from the Chamber is a nice end-of-year gift. This is great news that all sports enthusiasts will welcome with great favor and enthusiasm. It is the victory of logic, of Italianness and of common sense. And also of the love that all fans have for the image of Italy in the world, that of Paolo Rossi “, observes the prosecutor Claudio Pasqualin, a great friend of Rossi and member of a committee born spontaneously in Vicenza in memory of “Pablito” with twenty thousand members. Lazio and Roma still remain united against the proposal claiming an Olympic to dedicate if anything to their favorites. Rossi, hero of the tricolor people, ends up dividing Rome from the rest of the country.
Resistors
The proposal to name the Olympic stadium in Rome after Paolo Rossi, Italy’s unforgettable center-forward at the 1982 Mundial triumphant, does not yet receive unanimous approval among the fans of the two teams playing in the facility: Roma and Lazio. The theme is delicate, he is one of the most loved footballers in Italy of recent decades: a gentle champion, bomber between the mid-seventies and eighties with the jerseys of Vicenza and Juventus, sculpted in the collective imagination for his hat-trick against Brazil in the second round of the World Cup in Spain. A great sportsman who passed away in December last year.