Our task is to do everything to bring the athletes, from the base, which we must necessarily take care of, to the top, providing structures, federal centers and the best technical and medical skills. Many of the guys who are here in Tokyo come from the programs we have developed by taking them to compete in the Youth Olympics in Nanjing 2014 and Buenos Aires 2018.
After the gold medal of Marcell Jacobs, who will be Italy’s standard-bearer in the closing ceremony, you spoke of “sporting ius soli”, attracting criticism via social media from Lega leader Matteo Salvini.
I have a good relationship with Salvini and we also spoke to explain. I am not asking for a new law, but I must reiterate that I have hundreds of requests from all the Federations relating to athletes born and trained in Italy, who at 18, however, struggle to obtain citizenship and who end up abandoning the sport or acquiring the nationality of the parents’ country or, worse, of third countries that go hunting for talent. I believe that at least for those athletes of perspective who at the junior level have worn the blue jersey, the process of recognizing citizenship, which can last years, must be de-bureaucratized.
In the meantime, however, Italian sport and football put on the ropes by the pandemic and in financial distress have engaged in a tug-of-war with the government and the CTS.
I am alongside the FIGC president Gabriele Gravina. You see, there is an approach that holds back the government, where it believes that the aid to Serie A would be interpreted by public opinion as supporting the rich salaries of the players. But is not so. Refreshments, tax concessions, the request for a wider reopening of the stadiums, obviously compatible with health safety, are to be equated with the legitimate requests of other industrial sectors. And supporting professional football means protecting the whole sport. Funding for Olympic activities as well as for grassroots sports and federations derive from the tax revenue produced mainly by Serie A, we are talking about the 32% set by law, of a levy equal to 1.2 / 1.3 billion per year. To me, as to all federal presidents, it is clear that the more our football is competitive and collects, the more the entire sporting chain earns. Maybe not everyone is.